Interpreting Dreams
The Language of Dreams: What Your Subconscious Might Be Trying to Say
Dreams are one of the most mysterious and intimate parts of our inner world. Some nights they feel like pure chaos, other times they strike a nerve so deep it lingers all day. Whether you remember them vividly or barely at all, dreams are your subconscious mind’s way of processing, reflecting, and revealing.
But what are they really saying?
Why We Dream
Psychologists, mystics, and neuroscientists all have their own takes. From a science perspective, dreams help your brain organize information, regulate emotions, and rehearse possible scenarios. From a symbolic or spiritual lens, dreams are a direct line to the unconscious—your intuition, suppressed desires, unresolved patterns, or even messages from beyond.
Sometimes a dream is just your brain debriefing the day. Other times, it’s a mirror reflecting back something you’re not quite ready to look at in waking life.
Common Dream Symbols and What They Might Mean
Symbolism in dreams is rarely literal—it’s more about emotional tone, timing, and personal context. That said, certain symbols show up for many people, across cultures and time.
Here are a few classics, and some ways to begin interpreting them:
1. Falling
Often linked to feeling out of control, insecure, or unsupported. You might be navigating change or fear a loss of stability.
2. Being Chased
This is less about danger and more about avoidance. Ask yourself: What am I running from in waking life—an emotion, a truth, a decision?
3. Teeth Falling Out
This strange one is surprisingly common. It can represent anxiety about aging, appearance, communication, or powerlessness. It can also signal transformation—shedding something old.
4. Flying
Usually connected to freedom, creativity, or rising above a limitation. If it’s joyful, you might be stepping into a new version of yourself. If it’s scary or unstable, maybe you don’t feel ready yet.
5. Water
Water tends to represent emotion. Calm waters suggest clarity or peace, while stormy seas may mirror emotional overwhelm. Drowning might point to being consumed by something unresolved.
6. Death
Rarely literal. It often symbolizes endings, transitions, or a part of you being shed. Pay attention to what (or who) is dying—it might be a belief, role, or pattern.
7. Houses
Dreams of houses often represent the self. Different rooms can symbolize different aspects of your inner life. A cluttered basement might hint at repressed material, while a bright attic could reflect clarity or inspiration.
8. Exes or Past Relationships
This isn’t always about the person themselves, but what they represent—lessons learned, wounds still healing, or parts of you that were active during that time.
9. Being Naked in Public
This can symbolize vulnerability, shame, or fear of being exposed. It’s often tied to feeling unprepared or emotionally raw.
10. Repeating Dreams
If you keep dreaming the same scenario, your subconscious is stuck on a theme you haven’t fully faced. Look for patterns and how you feel in the dream, not just what’s happening.
How to Work with Your Dreams
1. Keep a Dream Journal
Even jotting down a few keywords in the morning can help you notice patterns over time. Pay attention to feelings more than plot.
2. Ask Questions
What was the main emotion? What part of your waking life feels similar? Was there a shift or resolution?
3. Use Symbolism as a Mirror
Instead of googling one-off meanings, reflect on what the symbol means to you. For example, dreaming of a snake could be fear for one person, transformation for another.
4. Look at Timing
Dreams around big life transitions—birthdays, breakups, moves—often carry symbolic messages. Your psyche processes through images what your waking mind can’t fully articulate.
5. Consider the Moon
Dream intensity often peaks around the full moon. You may find your dreams more vivid, emotional, or revealing depending on the lunar cycle.
Dreams as a Spiritual Tool
Some believe dreams can be intuitive downloads, past-life bleed-throughs, or even visitations from ancestors or guides. Whether or not you align with that, what’s clear is that your dream world is never random. It’s personal. It’s layered. And sometimes it’s trying to tell you exactly what you need to hear—just not in words.
Final Thought
You don’t need to interpret every dream perfectly. But paying attention to them—even just the weird, fragmented ones—can be like learning a new language. The more you listen, the more you begin to understand your inner world.
If you're curious how dream themes show up in your birth chart—like why you dream the way you do, or what your Moon and Neptune might be trying to say—let’s explore it together.
How to Interpret Relationship-Based Dreams
A guide to decoding the deeper meaning behind who shows up, why, and how it makes you feel.
1. Notice Who Is Showing Up
Is it someone from your past, present, or someone you haven’t met?
Is it someone you currently have unresolved feelings or history with?
Is the person real, or symbolic of a type (e.g., “the ex who abandoned me,” “the parent I felt invisible to”)?
2. Pay Attention to the Emotional Tone
Was the dream peaceful, awkward, romantic, tense, angry, confusing?
What was the emotional vibe between you and the person?
Was there unresolved tension, or resolution?
The emotional tone often matters more than the events.
3. What Role Were You Playing?
Were you the one pursuing, avoiding, helping, hurting, being hurt?
Did you feel empowered, ashamed, rejected, wanted?
Were you being your current self—or an earlier version of yourself?
4. Check for Repetition or Recurrence
Have you dreamed about this person or situation before?
Is it a recurring dynamic (e.g., chasing someone who doesn’t respond, being left, rekindling with someone)?
Repetition usually signals an unresolved emotional loop or pattern.
5. Explore the Symbolic Meaning of the Person
Instead of focusing just on them, ask: What do they represent?
An ex might symbolize a past version of you.
A parent could represent inner authority or fear of rejection.
A friend might embody a trait you’re reclaiming or struggling with.
6. Look at Your Waking Relationship With That Person
Are there things left unsaid? Lingering attachments? Regret? Gratitude?
Are they occupying mental or emotional space you haven’t acknowledged?
Could the dream be helping you process something you won’t in waking life?
7. Consider Projection or Integration
Are you projecting parts of yourself onto the other person?
For example: dreaming of a confident ex might reflect your own lost confidence.
Or is the dream helping you reintegrate something you've disowned?
8. Notice the Setting or Backdrop
Where does the dream take place? Childhood home, a beach, a party?
The setting can give clues—your childhood home might point to old relational patterns; a new place might signal a shift or healing.
9. Watch for Conflict or Resolution
Does the dream resolve something that never got closure in real life?
Or does it reignite something you thought was settled?
Are you forgiving, being forgiven, confronting, or avoiding?
Dreams often work as emotional processing tools when real-life closure isn’t available.
10. Ask Yourself What Part of You Is Being Activated
Is your inner child triggered?
Are you being shown your fears around intimacy, abandonment, betrayal, or longing?
Are you dreaming from a place of desire or protection?
11. Reflect on What You're Craving
Is the dream exposing unmet emotional needs?
Connection?
Validation?
Closure?
Excitement?
Are you dreaming about something you consciously deny wanting?
12. Look at Your Current Relationship Patterns
Do the dream dynamics mirror anything in your waking relationships?
Are you repeating old patterns with new people?
Is the dream asking you to break a cycle—or warning you that you're still in one?
13. Track Timing with Real-Life Events
Did something recent trigger this dream? A conversation? A memory?
Is an anniversary or emotional milestone approaching?
Are you on the edge of a relationship decision or change?
14. Tune Into Your Body's Response
How did you feel when you woke up?
Heavy? Relieved? Confused? Longing? Angry?
Your body often holds the real message even when the story is symbolic.
15. Look for Archetypes
The dream may feature relationship archetypes: the wounded lover, the abandoned child, the unavailable partner, the wise friend.
Are you being shown a relational wound—or a healing pathway?
Final Questions to Ask Yourself:
What is this dream showing me about how I love, lose, connect, or protect myself?
Is there something I’ve been avoiding in waking life that this dream is forcing me to feel?
Am I being called to grieve, release, confront, or forgive?
Want to Go Deeper?
Some dreams come and go. Others linger because they hold something sacred, unresolved, or transformative.
If you're having repeated relationship dreams—or just want to explore how your chart reflects the way you love, attach, or process loss—you can book a reading and we’ll dig into your personal planetary blueprint.
Book a birth chart or dream decoding session at soulsandstardustpodcast.com
Let your dreams speak—and let’s figure out what they’re really saying.
