Exploring how a house becomes a symbol.
In order for a house to exist, it had to have begun as a thought in the mind of a human being; it was an idea before it was an object. This is a great place to begin when we are defining the symbolic meaning of a physical, man-made item.
Imagine our ancient ancestors wandering the earth without a house. Why might they create a house? Perhaps they are lying under the stars and a huge animal attacks them. After fending off the beast, they think, “Ugh! Me need to keep beast out. Me need to stack stones. Me call it wall!”
While overly simplified, the scenario above could have been the first thought about a house – ever. An ordered series of thoughts would be required to bring that house into being. Something such as the following:
- What can I use to build a wall?
- How can I make it strong enough to withstand a beast?
- Can I do it with only my hands or will I need a tool?
The necessary tools may then be created, after they are imagined up, of course. Perhaps the tools began as simple chopping and carving tools, but they sufficed to build a simple house.
From then on, a house was no longer a thought in someone’s mind, it had become real; it existed.
The Birth of the Symbolism
We build a house around us for our safety, our protection, and our relief from the elements, among other things. Doesn’t it then stand to reason that when we dream of a house, it is our shelter from the storms of life; our protection from predators?
Although we don’t often stop to think about it in our fast-paced world, our hearts and our souls and our minds need protection as well as our bodies. After all, they are the true creators of our lives. As a house protects our physical body, a house in our dreams provides shelter for who we are inside. This is why it is a symbol for the self.
More Symbolism
Rooms in a house represent different parts of you. When you find yourself opening a door into a wonderfully amazing room, realize that you are opening a door into a part of yourself.
When you see a room that’s really messy, realize that it too is a part of who you are; where your inner thoughts and feelings are messy.
Sometimes the house you’re dreaming of actually represents someone else. Perhaps you’re at a friend’s house and having a wonderful visit. You note all the things you like and dislike about their house. In this case, the house in your dream would represent your friend or how you feel about your friend.
In some way, shape, or form the house in your dream is showing you some interaction that you are having with the world around you. On a completely “self” level it would represent how you are personally thinking and feeling about something.
Dream Phenomena and Remote Viewing
Perhaps you are remote viewing inside someone else’s house?
As an example: I was telling my best friend that I had a dream about her in which she was in her closet and there were extension cords and hangers and lights. I told her that her husband yelled something up the stairs to her.
She told me that all of those things actually happened that night. It was like I was in her house “seeing” what they were doing, even if only for a few minutes.
The only way to know if you are doing this is by speaking about your dream experiences. My advice is to share your dream with the person to find out if you were visiting them while you were dreaming.
Additional Notes
I’d like to end by letting you know I have a few posts and dictionary entries you may find helpful in understanding the symbolic meaning of the clues in your dreams with reference to a house.
Are you in the bathroom?
Are you opening a door or sitting in a closet?
A house is also a building.
If you were eating in the dream, you may want to see my post on food.
Did any of the following appear in the dream: kitchen, living room, cooking, eating or laundry? If so, check out their meanings in my Dream Dictionary.
Here’s another round of dictionary updates for you.
There are 6 new definitions this week:
- Alive
- Dead
- Dead-end
- Death
- Life
- Work
I’m closing in on 100 definitions in the dictionary so far!
Remember, if you’ve dreamed a symbol that you’re unfamiliar with, you can skim through my Dream Dictionary to see if I’ve already defined it. Any symbol that I’ve ever expanded upon in a full-length post will be linked there, too.
Also, if I haven’t covered a symbol yet and you’d like me to define something, send me an email or leave a comment at the dictionary page and I’ll be sure to write one.
Thanks for reading!
Always keep in mind that a dream dictionary defines the symbolic use of the things in your dreams. There is a way we dream that is simply reality replayed. In these instances the symbol would be what it represents in reality. A plate would be a plate, a kitchen would be a kitchen, and a donut would be a donut. Maybe you’re on a diet and you wanted a donut, so you dreamed of eating one! No symbolism was involved; simply a very enjoyable dream. These dreams do not need interpretation, they are what they are.
How to know the difference.
In a reality replayed dream, when you wake up, you will understand the dream and what it meant to you personally.
In a symbolic dream, in most cases, your dream will make no sense to you. This is the type of dream that needs interpretation. You were obviously making use of the symbolic meanings for the physical items in your dream.
Why do we dream in symbols?
Many people theorize that we do this when we aren’t consciously connected to the information. This implies that the language of the subconscious is one of a symbolic nature. Dreaming is only one medium through which the subconscious becomes conscious and in order to understand the information being sent, you need to learn the symbolic dream language.
A problem with the dream language is that it is personal to each individual, and may be hard to decipher.
I have written Dream Journaling posts to help you in your understanding of your personal dream symbols. Also, see my post on Creating a Dream Dictionary.
Does dream information come from any other source?
There are many dream things that defy explanation. Some examples are:
- Dreaming an event that hasn’t yet taken place.
- Dreaming of an event that has taken place that you were physically unaware of.
- Remote viewing in dreams; spiritually traveling to a location which exists in physical reality and bringing back information while you’re dreaming.
- Talking to another person in your dreams and comparing notes the next day to find they talked to you too.
- Receiving information in a dream from someone who is deceased that you couldn’t otherwise have received.
In answering the question, “Does dream information come from any other source?”
I would have to answer, “Yes!”
Exploring these dream capabilities and how they could possibly work is something I find very exciting. How could they possibly come from your subconscious when they weren’t there to begin with? Where did they come from?
Although I love every aspect of dreaming, these unknowns are my favorite areas to ponder. Theory after theory abounds within my head as to why and how these things can occur! If you’re interested in anything of this sort, you can look forward to many more posts on them in the future.
Or, for more information on things of an unexplainable nature, see my posts in Dream Phenomena, or read an example dream near the end of my post Building.
As always, thanks for reading,
Michelle
I’m still continuing the process of adding new definitions to my dream dictionary, and as usual, I’m highlighting the changes here.
There are 5 new definitions this week:
- Highway
- Home
- Paving
- Road
- Street
The total number of definitions in my dictionary is now over 80!
Remember, if you’ve dreamed a symbol that you’re unfamiliar with, you can skim through my Dream Dictionary to see if I’ve already defined it. Any symbol that I’ve ever expanded upon in a full-length post will be linked there, too.
Also, if I haven’t covered a symbol yet and you’d like me to define something, send me an email or leave a comment at the dictionary page and I’ll be sure to write one.
Thanks for reading!
In reality you use your teeth to eat your food, and speak your words. Teeth also figure prominently in your appearance.
Here’s some information about teeth as per Wikipedia – Your ability to chew food affects the quality of your life. The teeth play a major role in speech. Lack of teeth can result in “social insecurity”.
The basic meaning of teeth in your dream is to take good care of them, they’re very important!
Teeth Chomping into Dreams: The symbolic meaning.
A good set of teeth may represent:
- How well you can nourish yourself, both mentally and physically.
- How well you are speaking.
- How well you look.
A poor set of teeth could represent:
- Being unable to nourish yourself, to get what you need.
- Being unable to speak and be understood properly.
- Concern with not looking good.
Teeth falling out:
This is definitely a message from your subconscious saying, “Let me have your attention please!”
When the dream is about words in some way, shape, or form it signifies:
- Regret for words you said, and perhaps wish you didn’t.
- Words you didn’t say, and perhaps wish you did.
- Anxiety about speaking your mind or public speaking.
- Being unable to speak the way you’d like to for some reason.
- Perhaps you’re having trouble speaking what’s on your mind to someone, although you’d really like to.
- Misunderstanding: Is something you said creating problems because it was totally misunderstood?
When this dream is about nourishing yourself mentally, physically or emotionally:
When you don’t have any teeth you are unprepared to nourish yourself. Perhaps you aren’t getting everything you need in order to present yourself properly to others? This is about the ability to do what needs to be done, and do it well. You might be subconsciously worried that you’re going to look really bad, or you’re going to sound really dumb.
When the dream is about appearance:
There are many ways to look bad. How you appear to others involves your whole persona, not just your physical looks. When you lose your teeth in a dream and you believe you’re worried about how you look, remember to take the best care of yourself that you can. Who you are on the inside is way more important than how you appear on the outside.
An example dream:
I watched someone’s dentures fall out as they were speaking to me. The dentures landed in an ugly brown mud puddle. In reality I found out that this person was in the habit of not telling the truth. Their word was “mud”, not worth much. Also interesting that I dreamed “false” teeth to symbolize falsehood. In reality they are still in possession of their natural teeth.
As always, I hope I’ve given you something you can sink your teeth into that will help you understand your personal dream messages. Happy dreaming!
I’m continuing the process of adding new definitions to my dream dictionary, and as before, I wanted to highlight those changes here.
I added 8 new definitions this week:
- 1960’s
- Clues
- Cooking
- Eat
- Kitchen
- Living Room
- Party
- Well
These additions bring the total number of definitions (including sub-headings) in my dream dictionary to 76, and I have many more to add!
Remember, if you’ve dreamed a symbol that you’re unfamiliar with, you can skim through my Dream Dictionary to see if I’ve already defined it. Any symbol that I’ve ever expanded upon in a full-length post will be linked there, too.
Also, if I haven’t covered a symbol yet and you’d like me to define something, send me an email or leave a comment at the dictionary page and I’ll be sure to write one.
Thanks for reading!
There are two sayings commonly associated with the sport of bowling. They are “to bowl a person over” and “to bowl something down.” To bowl something over means to knock it over and to bowl something down means to knock it down; either way something is flattened!
A bowling ball in your dream be giving you a heads up.
- Do you feel as though you’re being knocked down in some situation in your life?
- Do you feel as though you’re bowling down everything in your path?
- If, in the dream, you are symbolizing the bowling pin, you’re being knocked down.
- If, in the dream, you are symbolizing the bowling ball, you’re knocking things down.
You could be symbolizing yourself as the pin and the ball. This would be about knocking things down in your life or getting rid of things inside yourself, rather than involving some external source. These could be things you no longer need or want.
On a basic level, you could enjoy the sport of bowling and are simply having some fun while you’re asleep!
