Cows often symbolize your mother, or motherhood, in the way a mother cow protects and gives an abundant supply of milk {nurturing}. They also represent the animus or feminine aspect of the male psyche. To realize this aspect {feminine} and incorporate it into your life gives balance to your life.

(1) Is the dragon guarding a treasure, or a cave which might contain treasure? If so, the cave probably represents your unconscious, the treasure represents yourself, the dragon that stands between you and your true self represents the fearsomeness of the unconscious for one who is still afraid of what may be lurking there.

(2) For Jung, the first stage of the individuation process is the conscious ego's heroic struggle to lift itself out of the original all-encompassing unconsciousness and to establish control of unconscious forces. This finds symbolic representation in the legendary dragon-slayer, St George (St George = the ego; the dragon = the unconscious).

(3) The dragon may represent the devouring aspect of (your relationship with) your mother. 'slaying the dragon" may therefore mean putting an end to whatever in your attachment to your mother is detrimental to the process of finding your own psychic individuality. Once the individual has achieved liberation from the "dragon", the feminine side of the manspsyche and the masculine side of the womanspsyche will no longer appear in threatening form, but as an indispensable companion and guide in further stages of self-development.

(4) A dragon may represent the generative power of (Mother) Nature; the unconscious, felt as womb pregnant with new possibilities of life.

(5) A winged dragon may symbolize some kind of transcendence, some passing from "lower" to "higher" level of personal maturity.

(6) A dragon may be a symbol for your sexuality, particularly if it your sexuality - frightens you. Is your fear irrational; or does sexuality threaten to rule your life? In either case, don't kill the "dragon"; if necessary tame it. (In China, "chi" is good, life-giving energy and the channels it runs along are called "dragon-lines", which are said to follow underground water and underground magnetic fields).

Parents may appear in a dream in the guise of animals. It then would represent a love-hate feeling toward that parent. An opossum is a marsupial, an animal whose young is carried within a pouch. What is the relationship with your mother? Or, what is the relationship to your wise self {Great Mother metaphor}? Are you, or should you, provide a more cultivating atmosphere for those unconscious aspects {creativity/spirituality} within your psyche.

The deepest unconscious where one finds repressed, forgotten emotions. Also is a symbol for mother, your own mother or Mother Nature. May symbolize creative potential.

Basic Meaning: A boat often symbolizes an aspect of the feminine, a reference to the unconscious.

(1) Because of their connections with water, boats may symbolize (some aspect of) the feminine, either with a plainly sexual reference or with reference to the unconscious (in the case of a male dreamer, the reference may be specifically to the anima), (See Anima/Animus or with reference to mother or Great Mother.

(2) Leaving one's own shores for a foreign country may symbolize entry into the unconscious insofar as the latter is unknown and frightening - alien, in fact.

(3) If the boat is crossing a narrow stretch of water, it may symbolize some type of transition: for example, moving from one phase of life to another, or making a new start and a clean break from the past.

(4) If in the dream you miss the boat, the meaning would seem to be obvious: you have failed to take advantage of an opportunity that has offered itself - perhaps an opportunity to open new vistas in your life.

Eric Ackroyd

Example in a Dream

You are in a boat drifting far from shore with sharks swimming all around you.

Possible meaning for a male: The boat would be an anima symbol representing the feminine aspects of the male psyche {compassion, tolerance, patience, ready to forgive}. Drifting far from shore would mean you are drifting away from these unifying feminine aspects. The sharks may represent those other internal aspects that want to assail you {in order to force you back to shore} or other people or circumstances in your waking life that are causing you to drift away from the natural feminine tendencies.

Possible meaning for a female: For a woman the meaning may have the same interpretation, you are drifting away from those essential feminine aspects. But it may also symbolize that you are moving away from those negative aspects {sharks} that can prevent you from an understanding of a higher self {the Great Mother}. It also may be a reference to your actual mother, an unconscious need or desire to move away from her destructive {sharks} attitudes. the meaning may have the same

Symbolizes tenderness, love, nurture, and motherly love. Perhaps there is still a need for required loved that has been missed in your life.

(1) If seen as mindless automata, insects may symbolize either (your attitude towards) your instinctive drives or unconscious forces that seem to constitute a threat to the rule of reason. In either case, you probably need to overcome - or at least examine - your repulsion.

(2) If it is a solitary insect, it may be bringing a message from your inner self. That your inner self should appear in such a paradoxical guise or employ such a dispicable and unlikely ambassador is a reflection of your (very unwise) contempt for your inner self, as shown perhaps in the way you exclude it from your conscious life. (Remember the cricket in Pinocchio's adventures?)

Spider

A spider is a common symbol of mother as an object of fear or dislike and particularily in a mansdream. Freud sees it as a symbol of 'the phallic mother (big surprise), of whom we are afraid; so that the fear of spiders expresses dread of mother-incest and horror of the female genitals" (Freud's own italics). Try to get to know, not only your mother, but - more important - what your mother means to you. One way of doing this is to converse with the spider: hold it in your mind and ask it searching questions.

Reference: Eric Ackroyd

If you are a woman it may represent the unfilled desire for a child. If the birth is a negative emotion it may symbolize an unwanted pregnancy. May represent the possibility of new experiences and personal growth. May symbolize a new phase of personal growth as in Jung's "Individuation Process" .

May symbolize the feminine side of a manspsyche. May represent your mother, or the wisdom that is available to you in your unconscious. May represent aggressive attitudes or threatening situations. Perhaps you need to bare your soul and let everything out into the open.

Mother

Basic meaning: Older, wiser, more experienced part of feminine self aspect; the unconscious; intuition; natural and instinctive life; your relationship with your mother.

(1) A dream about your mother may be telling you something about your relationship with your mother. Mother-attachment may be so strong that the development of your own individuality has been prevented. Inner independence of mother is the first great step towards realizing your true self.

(2) In a mansdream, mother may symbolize the feminine side of his psyche.

(3) Mother may symbolize the unconscious; intuitive self; natural instinctive life; the source of nourishment and growth for the psyche.

Father

Basic meaning: Wiser, more mature masculine aspect of self; straightforward representation of your father.

(1) For men, father may be a conscience figure. If this is the case, bear in mind that your father's prohibitions and commands will probably represent either conventional moral options which may have no relevance to your true nature or "destiny", or irrational fears and feelings of guilt that began to take shape in you in earlychildhood.

(2) For a woman, father may figure in a dream as one who generates affection.

(3) The presence of your father may be a straightforward representation of him, or of the way you see/remember him (which may owe more to your subjective distortions than to what your father actually is or was). In any case, the reason for your father appearing in the dream will be shown by the part he plays in the dream story.

(4) If your father features in the dream as a protector, it may be that you need to "grow up" and rely on your own resources. After all, life can hurt you only if you let it, only if you identify with your emotional self instead of with that deep layer of yourself that is immune to life's pains and perils.

(5) Father may be an animus figure (see Glossary of Jungian Termnology), representing a womans(unconscious) masculine qualities. In this case, the dream may be suggesting that she should cultivate this countrasexual side of her nature.

(6) Frequent appearances by eithet parent, or both, in dreams may be a sign that you have not thrown off an infantile over-dependence on them. Jung cites a young man's dreamin which the mansfather appeared as a drunken driver, smashing his car into a wall. This is the exact opposite of the real father, who was a most respectable person, rightly - but too too much - respected by the son. What the unconscious was doing through the dream was dethroning the father in order to enable the son to achieve a proper sense of himself as a person in his own right, with his own unique destiny and values.

Reference: Eric Ackroyd

Basic meaning: Older, wiser, more experienced part of feminine self aspect; the unconscious; intuition; natural and instinctive life; your relationship with your mother.

(1) A dream about your mother may be telling you something about your relationship with your mother. Mother-attachment may be so strong that the development of your own individuality has been prevented. Inner independence of mother is the first great step towards realizing your true self.

(2) In a mansdream, mother may symbolize the feminine side of his psyche.

(3) Mother may symbolize the unconscious; intuitive self; natural instinctive life; the source of nourishment and growth for the psyche.

May be telling you something about your relationship with your mother. Mother may symbolize the unconscious, especially the spiritual aspect (goddess). See Father-Mother

The unconscious mind. Pay attention to caves in your dreams. A cave may symbolize the womb. This could be a reference to the mother relationship or your relationship to your higher spiritual being. Finding treasure in a cave is finding your true self. A monster or evil spirit in a cave is an aspect of yourself which you are afraid of. Bring it up and face it. You cannot heal what you do not know or understand.

Basic meaning: things are falling apart, some aspect in your life is on unsound footing.

(1) What is quaking, or in danger of falling apart, may be you or your life. Is your marriage breaking up, or your business? Or do you need to look below the surface of yourself, into the depths of your unconscious, to see what is threatening to explode? Violence is usually caused by frustration. What part of you have you buried in the unconscious and robbed of its right to a place in your life?

(2) Since earth may represent mother, an earthquake could mean the breaking-up of your mother-attachment; or possibly the death of your mother (not a prediction of her death).

(3) Since earth may represent the unconscious, an earthquake may represent your fear of being swallowed up by your mother or mother-attachment, or some other unconscious complex.

Reference: Eric Ackroyd

island may be a symbol of the conscious ego's relationship to the unconscious (the unconscious would be symbolized by the sea or ocean).

It may symbolize your relationship with your mother (represented by the sea, the mother being the higher source). Is the sea threatening to engulf the island?

It may symbolize mother-love, or your nurturing (or lack of) as a child.

{1} {Climbing} a ladder may symbolize progress: improving your status; achieving or moving towards a goal.

{2} Climbing a ladder to heaven is a recurring mythological motif. It may be seen as a symbol of achieving personal wholeness

{3} Sometimes the ladder - like Jacob's in the Book of Genesis - is used by angels descending and ascending: a symbol of communication between the spiritual and physical aspects of the self, or between the true self and the ego.

{4} Descending a ladder to escape from an upper story of a burning house might symbolize {a need to} escape from your emotional self.

{5} Descending a ladder into a deep pit or well might symbolize a resolve - or need - to explore your unconscious depths. Climbing a ladder to get out of a pit or well might symbolize the need to escape from something that threatens to engulf you - a mother-attachment, perhaps, or other unconscious contents.

Reference: Eric Ackroyd