Dreams of water1 are multifaceted, with many potential layers of meaning. They can point to the shifting tides of the unconscious psyche, the possibility for emotional currents to sweep us away, the invitation to dissolve our rigid structures in a healing bath. A first step in understanding these dreams is to notice what form water is taking and the emotional tones present while in the dreamscape.
Share your water dreams in the comments below. I’ll be offering some reflections (utilizing an archetypal and symbolic perspective). Feel free to comment on other dreams if you’re inspired or have an insight to share.
I often have dreams of the ocean in which I am submerged and completely safe. There's no fear, I am always taken to the water and shown what to do. Recently, I had one where I was along a rugged coast and then the bus I was in was submerged in a loch. We all explored the underwater and came up wrapped in blankets, wet, and okay.
There seems to be a familiarity and attraction to the depths. Your ability to be submerged underwater without fear, to navigate, explore and return back to shore. It feels creative, healing, perhaps like a return to something more primal and instinctual.
Do you recall if you are breathing under water, holding your breath for long periods? I always think that is an interesting detail that can point to particular symbolic meaning.
For me, I think it is about the deep dive in the midst of menopause. Big deities show up for me in these dreams - the Cailleach, Hecate, and others. I suspect they have something for me to do. I journal my dreams nightly and, since early December, the water dreams are at least once a week.
That makes sense, such a deep biological change also brings a shifting of internal dynamics, perhaps a calling to explore these new realms of self that are emerging. Both Hecate and Cailleach carry archetypal qualities of the Crone, a patron for those moving into that period of life too.
Robin, thank you so much for becoming a paid subscriber. Your support means so much :)
I always have dreams where I am running late for something, usually for school or work, due to significant public transport delays. I'm usually finding it hard to find the correct train or bus station as it rains profusely. Sometimes I am looking for the station alone but usually, it's with a male companion or with a cohort of students. The roads are flooded and it's normally happening at night. Sometimes, I get splashed by rain water as the cars drive down the roads in a hurry, or it's raining so badly that I get drenched.
Do these dreams coincide with times of stress? The symbolism of flooding is always interesting to contemplate; is it reflecting a flooding of dynamics from within? Are you feeling overwhelmed in life, stuck, trying to get somewhere but haven't yet? Public transport also makes me wonder about movement, volition, direction in life. That its public/communal vs your own vehicle or car is something to take into consideration as well. The interplay between our own path vs one's that are laid out for us.
I’m not sure about whether these dreams happen during times of stress or not but your last reflection is something I have never thought about in regards to these dreams. Using public transport to get somewhere but struggling to find my way there feels very on point for my life - I currently live a “double life” and sometimes struggle to keep the two apart as I come from a very judgemental, religiously conservative family and I’m a closeted atheist. Thank you for your input!
It may be that this struggle with the "double life" is appearing in your dreams in more ways. I find that when there is a particularly charged issue happening, it manifests in several dream images and series. Some may even hold greater keys to breaking through the tension or finding integration.
Thanks for sharing your dream and happy to help out :)
I have many water dreams. The most memorable one I’ve experienced was six days after my beloved grandfather died.
I was sitting on a beach shore focusing closely on stringing different colored beads together to make a necklace. I felt content and refreshed. Then I noticed my grandpa was sitting next to me. It was like he was really there, healthy and vibrant as ever. We didn’t speak but simply enjoyed each others company, admiring the waves and beauty.
After a few moments he said, very decisively, “I’m going in.” He pat my hand and smiled. I followed his figure with my eyes as he stood up, walked barefoot to the water, and waded in.
He ducked under waves and floated around, looking happy, as if he was home in the ocean. I admired him for a while before looking down at my beaded necklace. I suddenly felt like something was missing.
I stood up and hurried a few steps toward the water like I wanted to go out there to meet him. I quickly stopped, though, because I felt conflicted. I called “Hey, Grandpa!” - flailing my arms in the air trying to get his attention.
He turned around to look at me, smiling back. Another wave rolled in and he gracefully swam under it, then popped to the surface again, still holding gaze. Then a HUGE wave slowly formed, rising so high that he had time to glance a few times at the wave and at me and back again. As if in slow motion, the giant wave began to roll and my grandpa (underneath it by now) looked up at it in awe. Right before the wave broke, he waved at me and dove into it. I began to cry. The wave finally crashed in a giant rush. I watched for my grandpa to appear again but all I could see was ocean. The water eventually calmed and I stood there for a while in the breeze, crying.
The ocean, and especially immersing ourselves in it, is sometimes seen as a symbol of the great return - we are born from waters and eventually find our way back there at death. These dreams can arise during times of "rebirth" through out our lives (going through major changes that signify a transition, development, etc). It's not uncommon to see them when actual death is involved too.
I woke up weeping and I’ll never forget I was flooded with so many memories of my grandma and I hanging out near natural water sources. The beach, the river, the creeks and water holes and hot springs along the mountain trails near his home. I felt almost like he was saying goodbye in the dream. I felt grief, love and appreciation.
I couple days ago I dreamed I was in my room about to take shower when I realized there was a shower inside my room, beside my bed, only when I opened it and the water started coming out then I realized it was strange and if I took the shower there my neighbors would see me naked as it was in front the window in my room, then I remembered I’ve always used the bathroom outside my room to take a shower, only this time there were family visiting and I could not use it. I could see the water still coming out from the shower and how it was getting wet all my stuff so I turned it off but I wasn’t really surprised or shocked.
Seems to be a play on external dynamics getting in the way of the cleansing process. First, the possibility of the neighbor seeing, then family being in town. Something to do with being exposed, feeling seen, when you're wanting more isolation or privacy perhaps?
I also find it interesting that water is spilling into your room, the place where you usually rest, that feels like your own. Since you weren't shocked or surprised, I wonder if the dream is hinting that your "room" (and what it symbolically represents) needs a bit of cleansing, purifying, etc?
I can’t remember all the details, but I was driving up the coastline with mountains on one side and the ocean on the other side lots of waves and it was not dark but also not day time, more like moment when the sun finally sets and you can still get a glimpse of blue light, I wound even say more like a full moon light, my dog was running along on the beach having a good time and we where going to meet up at the end of the road where there was a pier and a dock , I get there my dog is with me and I was going to take a boat I don’t know where I was going but then it started raining so I couldn’t get the boat. Some other things happen like someone gave me cotton candy but took a bite from it before handing it to me and I didn’t know the person who handed it to me.
Sorry if it seems all over the place but I couldn’t remember but and I apologize for any grammatical mistakes English is not my first language
The environment, the coastline and the mountains, feels like you are walking between boundaries. The path is straight while on the road but blocked when you try to change to the boat and ocean. Why might that be? Perhaps you're trying to make a shift but you're not quite ready to do so, something within is stopping the process. I'd also take note of your dog in this dream and reflect on what they represent to you. What are their characteristics? Are those traits important at this time of life?
I would say that I’m learning to be more confrontational in the sense that I sometimes have a hard time saying no, setting boundaries for myself and not let others take advantage, and to about my Dog I do have a pet and one of the many reasons I chose to bring her ( my dog ) in to my life was to help me settled down and to have a more stable home and to stop moving so much, and build some solid roots.
Perhaps the lack of boundaries and needing to be more confrontational relates to the person eating the cotton candy? Seems odd to take a bite out of someone's food before handing it to them!
I’ve had recurring dreams about a wave. It is a wild figure, but it also represents where opposites unite: the sky and water, the shore and ocean. Like nature, beautiful but dangerous if you don’t respect her
I think it’s awe. I was boogie boarding and so the ebb and flow is meditative, but a large swell can be quite intimidating, so a love for it, a fear of it, mixed emotions but an attraction to it. It’s wild and can’t be controlled, and in relating to it I am immersed in the logic of the wild “edge” at the intersection of opposites :)
Riding that line feels edgy, as you say, as if you could wipe out at any moment. Maintaining the balance is a skill gained over time, and interestingly allows us to be a mediator between these complementary or oppositional states (like being immersed in a deep meditation).
I find water in dreams can really tap us into these mercurial, nuanced dynamics, whether they are flowing within us intrapsychically, or expressed in the outer world. Thank you for sharing your dream images :)
Also one more brief image- I am watching huge creatures emerge from a body of water, but I can only see their backs and tails. I believe they are whales, but have prominent backbones. I feel a familiar sense of terror and awe in response to the emergence of something so powerful emerging from the depths.
(Similar to another dream I talked to you about) I am staring out at a large lake at night and a ball of fire shoots down into the middle of it. It goes down to the center of the earth and starts pulling in everything around it. I stand locked in place as I watch the entirety of my physical reality sink into the circle. I am met by a pervasive sense of existential terror. Others scramble around me, panicked. I don’t try to run. I stand and watch as the all consuming sinkhole unleashes fire, and then the flood, sensing the inevitability of death. I fall into a sea of black, a combination of fire and water. I am scorched immediately and feel my physical self dissolve almost in an instant, but my consciousness remains. I feel myself zooming through an inbetween, a light pulsing in the periphery of my awareness. I then drop back into my body and open my eyes.
Did this dream occur after the one we talked about? It does have similar themes, the fire was present in the other, from what I remember. Now there's water as well - it all feels quite alchemical. The calcinatio, which burns things down to ash, and the solutio, which dissolves the material into the solution.
Both are important operations of the nigredo, which I know we've talked about in our sessions before. Perhaps this process has continued to work these last months? That consciousness remains is interesting to me, as these "killing" operations are meant to destroy all the current structures in service to releasing the essence within, purifying the material. So it may rise in new form.
Yes it happened just a week or so ago. I did think it seemed quite alchemical. I’ve had one other flood and fire dream a few years ago that felt almost as potent as this one.
Hmm, is there anything similar thematically going on now and the last time you had the flood/fire dream? It could also be that whatever the dream spoke to then is also present now...
I dream about water often. Sometimes I’m on a boat w the same people, some of them seem very disconnected, tired, there’s heaviness and also water is murky. Few days ago I had a dream about my tub overflowing. When I realised, I run into the bathroom and stepped into the water feeling stuck. I don’t remember what happened after that but I found myself in the kitchen w two of my closest friends asking me what kind of salt I eat and why. One of my friends felt frustrated w me and I started over explaining myself as to why I eat the salt. This dream is reoccurring xx
For the murky water and tired individuals - do you relate to this quality in waking life? Does the dream come at times when you're feeling tired, heavy, clouded? Might it be pointing to that experience even if you're not fully aware of it?
Do you recall what you said about the salt? That's an interesting detail, with many potential symbolic implications. Salt is soluble and appears in many of our emotional fluids (sweat, tears, blood). It also symbolically can represent fixation (it preserves), which makes me wonder about the stuckness you felt with the bath overflowing, and the relationship being implied between water and salt.
I often have a dream of being in a circular high drum like water tank in some kind of industrial room, high ceilings. And i have no way of getting out. No ladder or ledge to hold. I am frightened as I am not a swimmer. Thanks Alyssa.
Do these dreams coincide with times of stress? I find there are certain repeating stress dreams we tend to have whenever things in life have been tough, or we are potentially working through some tense energy. That the dream keeps happening without much variation makes me suspect it could be that. How do these dreams usually end?
Although these dreams contain water, there's something manufactured about it, given you are in a water tank and an industrial room. In what ways might this reflect a struggle you're having that has been created by a larger entity, something perhaps out of your control. I could see this relating to work, school, or a system you're plugged into.
I greatly appreciate these invitations for deeper reflection.. I will keep an eye on mapping what's happening in life when this kind of water dream comes up. The struggle with the later entity makes a whole lot of sense to me! Thank you so much 🤗
I dream a lot with water, also influenced by the fact that I sleep with few quartz crystals near my pillow which are basically condensed water.
One dream that stands out thought is because I had it few nights in a row, very lucid and it always started the same, with a feeling of something innevitable that was about to happen and then witnessing a water apocalypse, a huge wave that would engulf everything. In the first dream I was somehow swimming trying to find my way to the surface but to no avail and woke up feeling like I drowned. But on the next day I had the same dream although this time when the wave came I managed to climb a huge building and so managed to escape but still had a sense of "what the hell is gonna happen now" while watching the tides. I had many dreams with innevitable tidal waves, some in which I survive, some in which I don't. But there's always some fascination, as in the dream I am aware of what is happening but I don't feel fear, more so curiosity.
Repeating motifs are a big thing to pay attention to! It shows how a particular current of experience/dynamic is evolving over time. From drowning to getting to solid ground - that is a big evolution. Do you feel you've made some internal changes, integrations, realizations, etc? Sometimes dreams show us these dynamics before they've fully formed in our conscious awareness, so that is something to keep in mind as well.
Thank you for your reply, this makes a lot of sense. Yes, lots of internal changes in the past few months. The whole past year has been a deep dive through the landscape of my unconscious. I think the biggest changes has been around my ability to surrender and trust and also around my intuition. From being a strictly thinking person for many years, I've rebalanced my intuition function where now I feel it's pretty level if not more developed. So maybe the water does say something around this intuition function of the psyche.
That's a great connection. Sometimes the psyche presents these dream images of flooding, tidal waves, drowning, etc because the structures we have built up (in this case an overly rational, thinking attitude) have to breakdown, be washed away.
Usually our dream ego (the perspective we hold in the dream) finds this overwhelming, threatening. But these waters, despite how scary they are, can really bring forth a new sense of being that revitalizes.
I had the most wonderful dream where I went into a shower in a church. As the water poured over me, I began weeping with awe and I kept saying how grateful I was to have found my holy place.
I once dreamt that the earth (or the city where I was) flooded almost to the top. We had to swim around in attempts to find space to land, but at some point I discovered I could breathe in the water. It felt more like river water than ocean water, but it was deep like the ocean and we encountered helpful dolphins and orcas. It was stressful but so beautiful.
Very beautiful, and with mythic undertones too. Flood myths usually explore themes of destruction for the purpose of cleansing and rebirth. It's interesting you realized you could breathe part way through the dream, an adaptation to the turmoil you were experiencing. Perhaps you have more psychological tools and skills to handle a stressful dynamic than originally considered.
Oooh yes, I had a dream recently about a huge tidal wave coming towards the house where I was about to hold a retreat. Now having just completed the retreat, I have a sense of its symbolism - as a forewarning of sorts!!! Curious to hear your perspective on tidal waves in dream s
I can't help but see the image and influence of the naiads in this dream, the feminine nymphs who preside over fresh water sources. The pools with lily pads, the reeds in your hair, the sense of becoming androgynous by embodying the water spirit.
Naiads are interesting. To me, they feel like an intermediary between pure, intense archetypal energy (the gods themselves) and the limitations of human, egoic consciousness. We can interact with the nymphs without being overwhelmed, struck dead, etc. However, they can be dangerous, they serve a strong instinctual need (born of the gods), and can pull us under if we aren't careful (think Hylas).
What might it mean to interact with an intermediary essence of water? How can you invite others, yourself, etc into the waters of the unconscious in a way that feels accessible to them?
Great insights on female identity and the deity. As I'm sure you well know, these dynamics often speak to the psychological expressions of the feminine as well (thus transcending biology, sex, gender). In this sense, there is the interplay of these psychological forces within, as we are a multiplicity. The feminine principle can be a powerful initiator, I think of the major myths and fairy tales of the meeting with the Great Goddess, the descent to her realm, and what we are being called to integrate or own in oneself.
In this case, perhaps female identity, or the receptive, creative feminine principle that is tasking you to transition away from the academic, analytical, mind-oriented way of being (the masculine logos represented by the students perhaps??).
These figures can be trickster-like, as a means to break the frame of rigid psychological dynamics. Perhaps the naiad-deity is attempting to do so?
I often have dreams of the ocean in which I am submerged and completely safe. There's no fear, I am always taken to the water and shown what to do. Recently, I had one where I was along a rugged coast and then the bus I was in was submerged in a loch. We all explored the underwater and came up wrapped in blankets, wet, and okay.
There seems to be a familiarity and attraction to the depths. Your ability to be submerged underwater without fear, to navigate, explore and return back to shore. It feels creative, healing, perhaps like a return to something more primal and instinctual.
Do you recall if you are breathing under water, holding your breath for long periods? I always think that is an interesting detail that can point to particular symbolic meaning.
It’s a very easy sensation for me under water, like my breathing and senses are working as they would on land.
Like being a creature of both worlds, it seems. Do you have a sense of what water means to you in these dreams? Any associations?
For me, I think it is about the deep dive in the midst of menopause. Big deities show up for me in these dreams - the Cailleach, Hecate, and others. I suspect they have something for me to do. I journal my dreams nightly and, since early December, the water dreams are at least once a week.
That makes sense, such a deep biological change also brings a shifting of internal dynamics, perhaps a calling to explore these new realms of self that are emerging. Both Hecate and Cailleach carry archetypal qualities of the Crone, a patron for those moving into that period of life too.
Robin, thank you so much for becoming a paid subscriber. Your support means so much :)
I always have dreams where I am running late for something, usually for school or work, due to significant public transport delays. I'm usually finding it hard to find the correct train or bus station as it rains profusely. Sometimes I am looking for the station alone but usually, it's with a male companion or with a cohort of students. The roads are flooded and it's normally happening at night. Sometimes, I get splashed by rain water as the cars drive down the roads in a hurry, or it's raining so badly that I get drenched.
Do these dreams coincide with times of stress? The symbolism of flooding is always interesting to contemplate; is it reflecting a flooding of dynamics from within? Are you feeling overwhelmed in life, stuck, trying to get somewhere but haven't yet? Public transport also makes me wonder about movement, volition, direction in life. That its public/communal vs your own vehicle or car is something to take into consideration as well. The interplay between our own path vs one's that are laid out for us.
I’m not sure about whether these dreams happen during times of stress or not but your last reflection is something I have never thought about in regards to these dreams. Using public transport to get somewhere but struggling to find my way there feels very on point for my life - I currently live a “double life” and sometimes struggle to keep the two apart as I come from a very judgemental, religiously conservative family and I’m a closeted atheist. Thank you for your input!
It may be that this struggle with the "double life" is appearing in your dreams in more ways. I find that when there is a particularly charged issue happening, it manifests in several dream images and series. Some may even hold greater keys to breaking through the tension or finding integration.
Thanks for sharing your dream and happy to help out :)
I have many water dreams. The most memorable one I’ve experienced was six days after my beloved grandfather died.
I was sitting on a beach shore focusing closely on stringing different colored beads together to make a necklace. I felt content and refreshed. Then I noticed my grandpa was sitting next to me. It was like he was really there, healthy and vibrant as ever. We didn’t speak but simply enjoyed each others company, admiring the waves and beauty.
After a few moments he said, very decisively, “I’m going in.” He pat my hand and smiled. I followed his figure with my eyes as he stood up, walked barefoot to the water, and waded in.
He ducked under waves and floated around, looking happy, as if he was home in the ocean. I admired him for a while before looking down at my beaded necklace. I suddenly felt like something was missing.
I stood up and hurried a few steps toward the water like I wanted to go out there to meet him. I quickly stopped, though, because I felt conflicted. I called “Hey, Grandpa!” - flailing my arms in the air trying to get his attention.
He turned around to look at me, smiling back. Another wave rolled in and he gracefully swam under it, then popped to the surface again, still holding gaze. Then a HUGE wave slowly formed, rising so high that he had time to glance a few times at the wave and at me and back again. As if in slow motion, the giant wave began to roll and my grandpa (underneath it by now) looked up at it in awe. Right before the wave broke, he waved at me and dove into it. I began to cry. The wave finally crashed in a giant rush. I watched for my grandpa to appear again but all I could see was ocean. The water eventually calmed and I stood there for a while in the breeze, crying.
This is such a beautiful and heartfelt dream.
The ocean, and especially immersing ourselves in it, is sometimes seen as a symbol of the great return - we are born from waters and eventually find our way back there at death. These dreams can arise during times of "rebirth" through out our lives (going through major changes that signify a transition, development, etc). It's not uncommon to see them when actual death is involved too.
How did you feel when you woke from the dream?
I woke up weeping and I’ll never forget I was flooded with so many memories of my grandma and I hanging out near natural water sources. The beach, the river, the creeks and water holes and hot springs along the mountain trails near his home. I felt almost like he was saying goodbye in the dream. I felt grief, love and appreciation.
It’s amazing how we seem to have the experience of meeting others in the dreamscape. As if some part of another person’s essence is present.
It does seem like your grandfather said goodbye. What a gift to have that experience, thank you for sharing.
I couple days ago I dreamed I was in my room about to take shower when I realized there was a shower inside my room, beside my bed, only when I opened it and the water started coming out then I realized it was strange and if I took the shower there my neighbors would see me naked as it was in front the window in my room, then I remembered I’ve always used the bathroom outside my room to take a shower, only this time there were family visiting and I could not use it. I could see the water still coming out from the shower and how it was getting wet all my stuff so I turned it off but I wasn’t really surprised or shocked.
Seems to be a play on external dynamics getting in the way of the cleansing process. First, the possibility of the neighbor seeing, then family being in town. Something to do with being exposed, feeling seen, when you're wanting more isolation or privacy perhaps?
I also find it interesting that water is spilling into your room, the place where you usually rest, that feels like your own. Since you weren't shocked or surprised, I wonder if the dream is hinting that your "room" (and what it symbolically represents) needs a bit of cleansing, purifying, etc?
I can’t remember all the details, but I was driving up the coastline with mountains on one side and the ocean on the other side lots of waves and it was not dark but also not day time, more like moment when the sun finally sets and you can still get a glimpse of blue light, I wound even say more like a full moon light, my dog was running along on the beach having a good time and we where going to meet up at the end of the road where there was a pier and a dock , I get there my dog is with me and I was going to take a boat I don’t know where I was going but then it started raining so I couldn’t get the boat. Some other things happen like someone gave me cotton candy but took a bite from it before handing it to me and I didn’t know the person who handed it to me.
Sorry if it seems all over the place but I couldn’t remember but and I apologize for any grammatical mistakes English is not my first language
The environment, the coastline and the mountains, feels like you are walking between boundaries. The path is straight while on the road but blocked when you try to change to the boat and ocean. Why might that be? Perhaps you're trying to make a shift but you're not quite ready to do so, something within is stopping the process. I'd also take note of your dog in this dream and reflect on what they represent to you. What are their characteristics? Are those traits important at this time of life?
I would say that I’m learning to be more confrontational in the sense that I sometimes have a hard time saying no, setting boundaries for myself and not let others take advantage, and to about my Dog I do have a pet and one of the many reasons I chose to bring her ( my dog ) in to my life was to help me settled down and to have a more stable home and to stop moving so much, and build some solid roots.
Perhaps the lack of boundaries and needing to be more confrontational relates to the person eating the cotton candy? Seems odd to take a bite out of someone's food before handing it to them!
That a good way to look at it 🤔
I’ve had recurring dreams about a wave. It is a wild figure, but it also represents where opposites unite: the sky and water, the shore and ocean. Like nature, beautiful but dangerous if you don’t respect her
What are the qualities of these dreams? Does the wave bring fear or distress? Does it feel comforting?
I like how you relate it to the union of opposites, I hadn't considered that with waves, but it makes so much sense!
I think it’s awe. I was boogie boarding and so the ebb and flow is meditative, but a large swell can be quite intimidating, so a love for it, a fear of it, mixed emotions but an attraction to it. It’s wild and can’t be controlled, and in relating to it I am immersed in the logic of the wild “edge” at the intersection of opposites :)
Riding that line feels edgy, as you say, as if you could wipe out at any moment. Maintaining the balance is a skill gained over time, and interestingly allows us to be a mediator between these complementary or oppositional states (like being immersed in a deep meditation).
I find water in dreams can really tap us into these mercurial, nuanced dynamics, whether they are flowing within us intrapsychically, or expressed in the outer world. Thank you for sharing your dream images :)
Also one more brief image- I am watching huge creatures emerge from a body of water, but I can only see their backs and tails. I believe they are whales, but have prominent backbones. I feel a familiar sense of terror and awe in response to the emergence of something so powerful emerging from the depths.
Perhaps something powerful, but less personal/subjective, is emerging from the unconscious?
(Similar to another dream I talked to you about) I am staring out at a large lake at night and a ball of fire shoots down into the middle of it. It goes down to the center of the earth and starts pulling in everything around it. I stand locked in place as I watch the entirety of my physical reality sink into the circle. I am met by a pervasive sense of existential terror. Others scramble around me, panicked. I don’t try to run. I stand and watch as the all consuming sinkhole unleashes fire, and then the flood, sensing the inevitability of death. I fall into a sea of black, a combination of fire and water. I am scorched immediately and feel my physical self dissolve almost in an instant, but my consciousness remains. I feel myself zooming through an inbetween, a light pulsing in the periphery of my awareness. I then drop back into my body and open my eyes.
Did this dream occur after the one we talked about? It does have similar themes, the fire was present in the other, from what I remember. Now there's water as well - it all feels quite alchemical. The calcinatio, which burns things down to ash, and the solutio, which dissolves the material into the solution.
Both are important operations of the nigredo, which I know we've talked about in our sessions before. Perhaps this process has continued to work these last months? That consciousness remains is interesting to me, as these "killing" operations are meant to destroy all the current structures in service to releasing the essence within, purifying the material. So it may rise in new form.
Yes it happened just a week or so ago. I did think it seemed quite alchemical. I’ve had one other flood and fire dream a few years ago that felt almost as potent as this one.
Hmm, is there anything similar thematically going on now and the last time you had the flood/fire dream? It could also be that whatever the dream spoke to then is also present now...
I dream about water often. Sometimes I’m on a boat w the same people, some of them seem very disconnected, tired, there’s heaviness and also water is murky. Few days ago I had a dream about my tub overflowing. When I realised, I run into the bathroom and stepped into the water feeling stuck. I don’t remember what happened after that but I found myself in the kitchen w two of my closest friends asking me what kind of salt I eat and why. One of my friends felt frustrated w me and I started over explaining myself as to why I eat the salt. This dream is reoccurring xx
For the murky water and tired individuals - do you relate to this quality in waking life? Does the dream come at times when you're feeling tired, heavy, clouded? Might it be pointing to that experience even if you're not fully aware of it?
Do you recall what you said about the salt? That's an interesting detail, with many potential symbolic implications. Salt is soluble and appears in many of our emotional fluids (sweat, tears, blood). It also symbolically can represent fixation (it preserves), which makes me wonder about the stuckness you felt with the bath overflowing, and the relationship being implied between water and salt.
I often have a dream of being in a circular high drum like water tank in some kind of industrial room, high ceilings. And i have no way of getting out. No ladder or ledge to hold. I am frightened as I am not a swimmer. Thanks Alyssa.
Do these dreams coincide with times of stress? I find there are certain repeating stress dreams we tend to have whenever things in life have been tough, or we are potentially working through some tense energy. That the dream keeps happening without much variation makes me suspect it could be that. How do these dreams usually end?
Although these dreams contain water, there's something manufactured about it, given you are in a water tank and an industrial room. In what ways might this reflect a struggle you're having that has been created by a larger entity, something perhaps out of your control. I could see this relating to work, school, or a system you're plugged into.
I greatly appreciate these invitations for deeper reflection.. I will keep an eye on mapping what's happening in life when this kind of water dream comes up. The struggle with the later entity makes a whole lot of sense to me! Thank you so much 🤗
You're welcome!
I dream a lot with water, also influenced by the fact that I sleep with few quartz crystals near my pillow which are basically condensed water.
One dream that stands out thought is because I had it few nights in a row, very lucid and it always started the same, with a feeling of something innevitable that was about to happen and then witnessing a water apocalypse, a huge wave that would engulf everything. In the first dream I was somehow swimming trying to find my way to the surface but to no avail and woke up feeling like I drowned. But on the next day I had the same dream although this time when the wave came I managed to climb a huge building and so managed to escape but still had a sense of "what the hell is gonna happen now" while watching the tides. I had many dreams with innevitable tidal waves, some in which I survive, some in which I don't. But there's always some fascination, as in the dream I am aware of what is happening but I don't feel fear, more so curiosity.
Repeating motifs are a big thing to pay attention to! It shows how a particular current of experience/dynamic is evolving over time. From drowning to getting to solid ground - that is a big evolution. Do you feel you've made some internal changes, integrations, realizations, etc? Sometimes dreams show us these dynamics before they've fully formed in our conscious awareness, so that is something to keep in mind as well.
Thank you for your reply, this makes a lot of sense. Yes, lots of internal changes in the past few months. The whole past year has been a deep dive through the landscape of my unconscious. I think the biggest changes has been around my ability to surrender and trust and also around my intuition. From being a strictly thinking person for many years, I've rebalanced my intuition function where now I feel it's pretty level if not more developed. So maybe the water does say something around this intuition function of the psyche.
That's a great connection. Sometimes the psyche presents these dream images of flooding, tidal waves, drowning, etc because the structures we have built up (in this case an overly rational, thinking attitude) have to breakdown, be washed away.
Usually our dream ego (the perspective we hold in the dream) finds this overwhelming, threatening. But these waters, despite how scary they are, can really bring forth a new sense of being that revitalizes.
I had the most wonderful dream where I went into a shower in a church. As the water poured over me, I began weeping with awe and I kept saying how grateful I was to have found my holy place.
How beautiful! Like being immersed in baptismal waters. Did the dream coincide with any shifts or changes in spiritual practice, ritual, etc?
Great question! I'll check my journals. Thank you!
You're welcome :)
I once dreamt that the earth (or the city where I was) flooded almost to the top. We had to swim around in attempts to find space to land, but at some point I discovered I could breathe in the water. It felt more like river water than ocean water, but it was deep like the ocean and we encountered helpful dolphins and orcas. It was stressful but so beautiful.
Very beautiful, and with mythic undertones too. Flood myths usually explore themes of destruction for the purpose of cleansing and rebirth. It's interesting you realized you could breathe part way through the dream, an adaptation to the turmoil you were experiencing. Perhaps you have more psychological tools and skills to handle a stressful dynamic than originally considered.
Oooh yes, I had a dream recently about a huge tidal wave coming towards the house where I was about to hold a retreat. Now having just completed the retreat, I have a sense of its symbolism - as a forewarning of sorts!!! Curious to hear your perspective on tidal waves in dream s
Oh, do tell me how you end up liking them! Anatomy of the Psyche is probably my favorite from Edinger.
I can't help but see the image and influence of the naiads in this dream, the feminine nymphs who preside over fresh water sources. The pools with lily pads, the reeds in your hair, the sense of becoming androgynous by embodying the water spirit.
Naiads are interesting. To me, they feel like an intermediary between pure, intense archetypal energy (the gods themselves) and the limitations of human, egoic consciousness. We can interact with the nymphs without being overwhelmed, struck dead, etc. However, they can be dangerous, they serve a strong instinctual need (born of the gods), and can pull us under if we aren't careful (think Hylas).
What might it mean to interact with an intermediary essence of water? How can you invite others, yourself, etc into the waters of the unconscious in a way that feels accessible to them?
Great insights on female identity and the deity. As I'm sure you well know, these dynamics often speak to the psychological expressions of the feminine as well (thus transcending biology, sex, gender). In this sense, there is the interplay of these psychological forces within, as we are a multiplicity. The feminine principle can be a powerful initiator, I think of the major myths and fairy tales of the meeting with the Great Goddess, the descent to her realm, and what we are being called to integrate or own in oneself.
In this case, perhaps female identity, or the receptive, creative feminine principle that is tasking you to transition away from the academic, analytical, mind-oriented way of being (the masculine logos represented by the students perhaps??).
These figures can be trickster-like, as a means to break the frame of rigid psychological dynamics. Perhaps the naiad-deity is attempting to do so?
Have you read Edinger's "Eternal Drama: The Inner Meaning of Greek Mythology". It's a really accessible exploration on the main stories.
You're very welcome, and thank you for sharing! This dream has so many rich themes to explore, glad I could help out.