Dream Dictionary Masculinity

The end of the road. Are you about to fall off or do you look out from the cliff and see great things? What ever is over the cliff represents the state of your being.

To be at the edge of a cliff is to be where earth meets both sea and sky. Sky is a symbol of consciousness/masculinity; sea is the unconscious/femininity.

(1) What is symbolized may be a critical point in your life, a time for decision.

(2) The decision may be one concerning the polarity of male and female, the masculine and feminine components of your psyche. If you are a woman, it may be that a decision has to be made concerning the conflicting worlds of career and domesticity. (Sky would then symbolize masculine assertiveness and active participation in the world; sea, feminine attributes such as motherhood and nurturing.)

(3) The cliff edge may be the "end of the road", signifying that you have come as far as you can in a particular endeavor of lifestyle, and that something radically new is called for. Perhaps this new approach to living means entering into a close relationship with Nature (represented by the sea or sky) or bringing together the conscious and unconscious parts of your psyche.

It may be a question of whether you can find within yourself enough strength and faith to step out into the unknown future; or throw yourself off the cliff - that is, withdraw from life's challenge.

(4) The horizon may be the significant thing in the dream. This may mean you are being challenged to take a bigger view of things, to see life and/or yourself on a grander scale, in order to find a new and more satisfying motivation for your life.

Reference: Eric Ackroyd

(1) A fight may represent conflict in a real-life domestic or work situation.

(2) The conflict may be within you, between opposing forces in the psyche. An obvious candidate is a clash between what you want to do and what you feel you ought to do. In this case, bear in mind that conscience is usually socially constructed and consists of the prohibitions and ideals that were imprinted in your psyche during your early years.

(3) The conflict may be between what we are in fact and what we are potentially. Jung sees conscience as the voice of inner wisdom that will lead us to our true selfhood.

(4) If the conflict is between conscious ego and unconscious, the aggressor in the dream fight will probably represent the part of you that is demanding release from the dungeons of the unconscious. It will not hurt you unless you deny it expression. Identify it, and then welcome it as a talent or energy that can contribute to your well being. Change the conflict into a dialogue, a respectful exchange between your conscious and unconscious. (Is this not the way to handle such situations in our waking lives, instead of aggression?).

Where there is unresolved inner conflict, there is a tendency to project the unconscious protagonist to other people, often with dire consequences in personal relationships.

(5) More specific inner conflicts are those between opposite psychic qualities or forces, such as masculinity and femininity, thinking and feeling.

Reference: Eric Ackroyd

More on Dead/Death

If the dead person is someone you actually knew it may mean you should take notice of what he or she said or did, or what happened to him or her. The person is not coming back to "haunt" you but to advise you or to help you. In actuality, this person is a part of your own psyche, taking the form of the dead person. Such encounters may help you to fulfil a long desired relationship, or put something right. For example, you may learn to forgive the person {or yourself}and as a consequence get peace and healing for yourself.

 If a deceased partner or parent appears in dreams, the above may apply. Bear in mind that the dead do live - inside us; and that it is important to realize when this is a healthy and life-enhancing thing and when it is purely negative, stunting your own personal growth. If it is the latter, resolve to have it out with the dead person the next time he or she appears in a dream

 If the dead person in the dream is actually a living person - and especially if that person is your partner or sibling - the dream may be expressing unconscious resentment towards that person, or a desire to be independent. Feelings toward someone close are often ambivalent {simultaneous conflicting feelings toward that person}: love or respect mixed with fear or hatred or resentment or jealousy. The usual conscious response to such a dream will be anxiety, and you will feel anxiety in the dream itself.

The dead person may be you. If so consider the following possibilities:What is being expressed in the dream may be your own anxiety about dying. Death is inevitable {an old Islamic proverb: when the angel of death approaches it is horrific, when it reaches you it is bliss}, and facing up to the fact may bring great rewards: self-acceptance; new values; a broadening of one's personality, compensating for past omissions or lopsidedness and utilizing hitherto neglected personal resources. This would be especially applicable if you are in the second half of life.

The message may be that your old self needs to be left behind. This may mean that you must stop carrying around with you the crippling burden of your past {irrational guilt-feelings and martyrdom complex, or any other negative self-programming}; and, instead, you must open yourself to what the present moment is offering. Alternatively, the "old self" may be old attachments, habits, ambitions, values, goals; in which case the dream is telling you that the only way forward for you lies through giving these up and looking deeper within yourself for better values, etc. {where "better" means more in tune with your real self}.

{Primitive rites of passage, as described in mythological symbolism as well as in dreams, which mark transitional stages in a person's life - birth, initiation into adulthood, marriage and career, death - all contain death-and-rebirth symbolism and express a recognition that the development of new attitudes more appropriate to one's new stage in life {the death and resurrection of Jesus is a metaphor for such death and resurrection stages in the individual life}. The symbolic death of the initiate in these rites may also be seen as a descent of the conscious ego into the unconscious: it is the unconscious {and the compensating knowledge that it holds} that provides the means for new growth - rebirth.

It is just possible that, if your own death features repeatedly in dreams, it is an expression of an unconscious wish for death. Freud speculated in "Beyond the Pleasure Principle" that there might be, in everyone, just two controlling basic drives: one towards life and love and pleasure {Eros}, and the other towards death {'thanatos"}. This is highly controversial {as is much of Freud's theories}, but it is indisputable that many people display strong masochistic tendency.

Are you compelled to repeat painful experiences? Do you tend to interpret what other people say as a criticism of yourself? If so, you may be suffering from repressed guilt-feelings and an unconscious urge to punish yourself - which sometimes take the form of a fate-neurosis and/or a wish {unconscious, as in your dream} to see yourself dead. If you feel this applies to you, talk to a friend about it or consult a psychotherapist. See Suicide

A wish for death may be a retreat from life's problems and pains, or a response to a sense of failure. If this applies to you, bear in mind, first, that a very sensitive person may also be burdened with an over-severe conscience {the product perhaps, of having a stern father or a sin-and-guilt religious upbringing}. In that case, see the previous paragraph. Secondly, what makes a thing a problem is usually one's attitude towards it. For example, suppose you have been made redundant {repeat mistakes over and over}. If your reaction is to see this as a punishment, see previous paragraph. If you see it as a failure, try to change your attitude or perspective by asking what creative purpose may be being served by your redundancy; perhaps, for instance, the demolishing of an inadequate or false self-image in order to make way for the construction of one that corresponds more closely to your individual ground-plan or "destiny".

 If the gender of the dead person is stressed, the meaning may be that your masculinity/femininity or your animus/anima needs reviving.

 a dead animal in a dream almost certainly refers to some part of you - an instinctive force, perhaps - and the dream will be telling you either that this part of you {e.g. guilt-feelings or inferiority complex} ought to die, because its effects are wholly negative; or that it is a valuable but repressed part of you that you must now bring to life, to rectify an imbalance in your personality.

From dream moods

Death To dream about the death of a loved one, suggests that you are lacking a certain aspect or quality that the loved one embodies. Ask yourself what makes this person special or what do you like about him. It is that very quality that you are lacking in your own relationship or circumstances. Alternatively, it indicates that whatever that person represents has no part in your own life

From iVillage

Dreaming about death is very common and it can be interpreted in many different ways. Death is usually a symbol of some type of closure or end. It implies an end to one thing and a beginning of another. Death dreams usually have positive symbolism. If you are the dead person in your dream, it could imply that you would like to leave all of your worries and struggles behind and begin anew. Dreaming about someone that you care about may express your fear about losing them. Dreaming that one of your parents died may express fear of loss, but it also may be an unconscious valve through which you release anger and other negative feelings. In some cultures dreaming about death and dying is a very good omen that represents longevity and prosperity.

intellect, rationality, masculinity.

{1} A head may be a symbol of intellect: rational as distinct from intuitive thought {see Personality Types}.

{2} It may symbolize the conscious ego as distinct from the unconscious {which might be represented by the abdomen or solar plexus}.

{3} It may be a symbol of masculinity.

{4} A monstrous, horrifying head probably represents negative - because repressed - drives or processes in your unconscious. Try to follow Perseus" example. The Gorgons" eyes turned to stone anyone they looked at; but when Perseus succeeded in cutting off Medusa's head, the winged horse Pegasus sprang from her body. This may be seen as symbolizing the psychic or spiritual development that results from facing up to whatever is fearsome in one's unconscious.

{5} A two-headed creature may symbolize either duality, antagonistic opposites in your psyche or the {needed} union, or bringing together, of opposing psychic qualities/functions/forces - for example, masculine and feminine; conscious and unconscious.

Reference: Eric Ackroyd

Also See Dream Motifs-Death

Death or dying in a dream seldom refers to an actual death. Death refers to changes in one's life, or attitudes toward certain persons, or fears of dying. Here are some possibilities of what death, dying or a dead person may represent in a dream. Death is a motif and may be the central motif of the dream.

Basic meaning: The old is dying; make way for new beginnings.

(1) The dead person may be you, even though its image within the dream takes on characteristics of other persons or other things. The message may be that your old self needs to be left behind. This may mean you must stop carrying around with you the crippling burden of your past (irrational guilt-feelings or other negative self programming); and, instead, you must open yourself to what the present moment is offering. Alternatively, the "old self" may be old attachments, habits, ambitions, values, goals; in which case the dream is telling you that the only way forward for you lies through giving these up and looking deeper within yourself for better values, etc. (where better means more in tune with your real self).

(2) What is being expressed in the dream may be your own anxiety about dying. Death is inevitable, and facing up to that fact may bring great rewards: self-acceptance; new values; a broadening of one's personality, compensating for past omissions or lopsidedness and utilizing hitherto neglected personal resources. This would be especially applicable if you are in the second half of life.

(3) If the dead person in the dream is actually a living person - and especially if that person is your partner or parent or sibling - the dream may be expressing unconscious resentment towards that person, or a desire to be independent of that person. Feelings toward someone close are often ambivalent (conflicting): love or respect mixed with fear or hatred or resentment or jealousy.

(4) Does the dream contain a dead person you actually knew? If so, the dream may mean you should take notice of what he or she said or did, or of what happened to him or her. The dead person is "coming back", not to haunt you but to advise and help you (the dead person actually represents parts of your unconscious self that is wiser than your waking ego).

There's really nothing 'spooky" about meeting dead people in dreams. Such encounters may help you fulfill a long-desired deep relationship, or to put something right. For example, you may learn to forgive the person and as a consequence get peace and healing for yourself.

(5) If the gender of the dead person is stressed, the meaning may be that your masculinity/femininity or your anima/animus needs reviving.

(6) A dead animal in a dream almost certainly refers to some part of you - an instinctive force, perhaps - and the dream will be telling you either that this part of you (e.g. guilt-feelings or inferiority complex) ought to die, because its effects are wholly negative; or that it is a valuable but repressed part of yourself that you must now bring to life, to rectify an imbalance in your personality.

Reference: Eric Ackroyd

In a woman's dream it may represent the animus. The bull may refer to your masculinity (whether you are male or female).The taming of a bull may signify the harmonious integration of your animality, especially your sexuality, or the whole of the hidden, unconscious part of your psyche. The bull may symbolize fertility, as in mythology. Your unconscious has the power to bring about new life if you allow it to penetrate your conscious mind. May represent your true nature - as seen when one practices self exploration of the psyche. May symbolize stubbornness, strong will, strength, and power. Bulls are also symbolic of repressed sexual energies, fertility and virility. Dreaming of an untamed, raging bull represents that your passions may be out of control.