3 Elements of Dream Interpretation

pink, stylized clouds on a blue sky with a warped, retro filter.

It’s weird that I haven’t written very much about dream interpretation, seeing as it’s quite literally the first thing I do each day, and has been so for the past 21 years. 

The insights I’ve gained by interpreting my dreams, and moreover, by consigning myself to a particular system within dream interpretation have been unparalleled–even by tarot and playing cards.

That’s because prophecy is allowed to come upon me, when I am completely helpless, and then it is on me to either interpret or ignore it. 

Querants often tell me that they sought a card reading because they fear that they are too close to the situation at hand to be totally honest with themselves. It’s a common concern, especially now that most people who are interested in tarot have at least one deck of their own that they use to read for themselves. 

Tarot is most accurate when we are able to be honest with ourselves! Reading for ourselves is at least as difficult as reading for others, because the mind is limitless in its ability to create distractions, excuses, and judgements. 

I recommend dream interpretation for everyone who is interested in tarot, particularly before they start to learn the cards, especially young people. This is because tarot and dream interpretation pull from the same well–the collective unconscious. The collective unconscious is the place where art, symbol, and meaning all converge. 

The possibilities within it are near endless, and it is also a physical space that can be traveled to and from. This is what I access when I read, and what we all access when dreaming, regardless of training or familiarity with interpreting what we experience there. 

Here are a couple of elements of dream interpretation that can get you started dreaming true, as it is sometimes called in hoodoo, and set you up for a lifetime of dream travel!

Setting 

Dreams are most interpretable when you are in a place where you can get a full 8 hours of sleep. This often works best where you sleep most of the time: in your own bed, around the things with which you are most familiar. 

This does not mean that you can’t dream well in, say, a lover’s bed. It just means that there may be distracting stimuli around you that can influence your dream. We’ll get to this more in the portion of this article about discernment, but not all of our dream life is prophetic even within a single dream that does contain some prophecy or premonition. 

That’s why you should try to control whatever you can about your dreaming environment if you want to interpret your dreams. Close your curtains if you don’t have a good view of the moon. If you do, consider an eye mask–dreams can be finicky! For me, dreaming can be light sensitive so I have to control how much light enters the room.

If I need an answer to an important question, and need to have an ancestral dream, I often do a dream steam before going to sleep. That’s where I combine a bunch of dreaming herbs in a bowl, cover it with hot water and let it steep for a few minutes, then cover my head with a towel and prayerfully inhale the mist. 

It works very well for me. I may also smoke my bedroom with mugwort (or my whole house, depending on need). Lavender and hops smoke can be helpful if your dreams are often interrupted by insomnia, as they help you fall asleep and stay asleep. I wouldn’t recommend smoking a bedroom if you have asthma or another respiratory condition. 

Timing 

This is important! Our most prophetic dreams come in deep sleep. As Lady Stearn Robinson and Tom Corbett write in their amazing The Dream Dictionary (which I have used for over a decade, and couldn’t possibly recommend more highly) interpretable dreams generally happen between 2:00 AM and 7:00 AM. 

That’s because our digestive system has finished its work, and so there are less physical distractions within the body to which our dreams must react. Dreams that happen before that are usually about a physical sensation or a bodily process–which can still bring important news about a physical or emotional illness. Dreams that happen after that can alert us to mental and emotional states. 

The timing above is about precognitive, preminatory, or prophetic dreams. This is not to say all true dreaming happens during these times, but that is when it is most likely to happen. Our guides will alert us to what we need to know when we need to know it, but if you want a practice of everyday interpretation, those times are a good and pragmatic starting point. 

Discernment

Discernment is one of the hardest parts of divinatory practice! It’s not just what you see, it’s knowing what you don’t see!

This means that if you’ve been gardening all day, let’s say planting gardenias, and you see a gardenia in your dream, it’s very likely that it is a carry over from your day, and probably shouldn’t be interpreted.

It also means that if you’re desperately trying to avoid a break up, and you dream of scissors, you should be honest about the fact that estrangement is likely.

When we find ourselves lying about what we dream or see in the cards, it makes it harder to learn the systems that we say we want to master. Remember that most of the time, what the universe or God is putting before you is something that is either for your benefit or a warning. 

Dream interpretation has spared me so much pain, and also occasionally caused me anxiety, but it’s a practice that helps me everyday! 

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