Thread: Archetype Toolbox: Tools for interpreting your own dreams

When I happened onto DV years ago, I was starting out on a more dedicated spiritual journey that actually seems to have began when I was quite a bit younger. Looking back it is readily apparent that that journey in itself has influenced my dreams and the archetypes that have arisen in them. I have read into and touched on a wide variety of spiritual writings, religious history, science, and psychology. Some in more depth, others just getting a general awareness of. All of these things find their way into shaping my dreams and the understanding of the archetypes within them. My own past, my own history, everything I have done in this life builds a base for that understanding. I cannot stress enough the importance of cultivating self awareness to anyone who is contemplating the meaning of one of their dreams. In dealing with archetypes it seems to be important from my own experience.

Archetypes in my dreams include the following:


Direction in my dreams has meaning. North is towards spiritual realization, Spiritual Truth. South is towards the material world, spiritual ignorance. West seems to be towards where I have been spiritually, teachings and realizations that have already been. East is towards new teachings, new realizations coming, or that I am moving to.
Even combinations of these directions carries meaning. Where dc's come from, where they are going, facing . Seems sometimes the smallest detail involving direction carry weight.

Buildings in my dreams, when the focus of the dream seems to be on the building, is a representation of my "spiritual structure". Seems to represent more specifically the current condition of my spiritual understanding. When I first started out there was a main floor and a basement. Everything was a jumbled mess as to the contents. A stairway up on the first floor was present but barricaded off. This was in all my dreams at first. As I worked on myself and established my spiritual "practice", began following teachings in Dzogchen mainly, the clutter became uncluttered and everything gradually from dream to dream became neat and orderly. Eventually the stairway opened up to go to the second floor.
Each floor seems to have meaning of its own which I wont get into here and now. As I progress other floors seem comes to the structure, and the structure gradually becomes more ornate, more finished. Different rooms in the structures as such also seem to have their own meaning depending on the dream. All aspects of myself . You get the idea. Such a building is a treasure trove of information on my dreams.

Women in my dreams seem to have evolved into an archetype for spiritual teaching, or spiritual truth. there seems to be different levels or tiers as to how a woman can manifest in my dream carrying different connotations, but all seem to reflect back in some capacity, large or small, to being one with the teaching and spiritual truth. This all applies seemingly only when the woman dc is a prominent figure in what's going on in the dream.

Will add more as I get to them..

This is very good idea but in my mind it's a bit unfortunate that you chose the term "archetype" for personal images in dreams, since it has another and well established meaning in dream theory. I fear that discussions about different archetypes (or archetypal images, rather) run the risk of getting quite confusing?

Originally Posted by Wakinyan

This is very good idea but in my mind it's a bit unfortunate that you chose the term "archetype" for personal images in dreams, since it has another and well established meaning in dream theory. I fear that discussions about different archetypes (or archetypal images, rather) run the risk of getting quite confusing?

So we now have a "personal" archetypal system and a" professional" archetypal system in this topic. I think there's room for both here without any confusion as long as participants work as team players to build the topic. This topic does not need to be a seedbed for arguments of right and wrong, as the intention is to mainly provide examples of archetypes for the onlooker to take in and draw their own conclusions in relation to their own dreaming.
Those who simply deal with their own dreams and have found re-occurring symbols(archetypes) in a "personal context" from dream to dream should post as I have above. Simple statements as to what those symbols are and what they mean to them, and why.
Others, like yourself, who have a knowledge of a broader view of archetypes that work from person to person across the board should post those symbols and what they mean in that "professional" context. A little history as to where the information comes from and how those meanings were arrived at would be also helpful to the reader.

Actually I think it would be very beneficial to have both views posted side by side in this topic, not for argumentative sake, but for simple example. What we don't really want to get into is the right and wrong of how someone takes the symbols they see in their dreams. A new topic should be opened to carry such a discussion leaving this one for what people are seeing first hand, both by the individual dreamer working with their own dreams, and by the persons who work with many dreamers seeing similar symbols and archetypes as the arise across the board common to everyone.
If enough people participate in this and we get information from both types, then there will be something here for readers to really compare back and forth.

Like I said, the point of this topic is not to argue rightness or wrongness, it is simply to catalog examples and the reasoning behind those examples.

I encourage you to toss out here what you know of the examples of archetypes as they relate to established meaning in dream theory...

I don't understand what you mean with "right and wrong". I was suggesting that using the word "archetype" for something that is not an archetype (in the sense the term is commonly used in dream theory since about a hundred years) may cause confusion and impede the thread. But of course we can agree that the word has no meaning or whatever meaning anybody wants it to have and fire away. I'm cool with that, I was trying to be helpful because I liked the idea.

I understand what you are saying. As you suggest, we can just put the meaning aside and see how things develop with the general theme of the topic. We can pick this up later and hammer it out whichever way it needs to go.

Taking into consideration the previous valid comments, I have taken time to do a quick search and review of commonly held dream symbols and archetypes that, according to a variety of research, are held in common for all dreamers. Below you will find a list of several different web links that contain examples of such common dream symbols and archetypes. I post them for examples only. The reader will have to dig into where these sites get their information and its validity themselves. At least at this point we will now have established some examples to look at.

I have personally found that some of the symbols represented in these links and descriptions do parallel the meanings I have found on my own, in my own dreams. Others do not seem to carry the same meaning. I also note that the definitions from site to site sometimes can and do differ, sometimes greatly, other times only slightly. This all lends to the notion that there is no real "cookie cutter approach" to the meaning of archetypes or symbols that fits all dreamers everywhere. This is why I would suggest that the individual dreamer take care not to just grab up and run with the first defined symbol they come across.
Take time to explore and research yourself how symbols are defined from a number of sources., keeping in mind that you ultimately will be your own best source of defining what's going on in your dreams. I believe it is important for the dreamer to measure the definitions and the symbols being defined by their own life experiences. As such, the definitions and meanings you come up with will be more true to your own self, your own experience, and your own dreaming.


As stated, the following links are just a random sampling from a web search of "dream symbols". As such they are meant purely as a random sampling of what is out there. Doing a search yourself will result in many more such links.

Dream Symbols : info on dream, dream interpretations, dreams, dreaming, Dream Emporium, dream journal, lucid dreams, lucidity, lucid dreaming, insomnia, nightmares, night terrors, sleep, sleep disorders, sleep paralysis, sleep walking, sleep talking,

Dream Symbols

http://www.dream-symbols.com/popular...in-dreams.html

Dream Symbol Meaning

Archetypes


It would be preferred at this point NOT to discuss the above sites in particular here in this topic. For now, it would be better to just keep this topic here as a reservoir of examples. If one feels the need to discuss such it would be better to open another discussion thread


note: I borrowed the "cookie cutter " comment from gab