3 ways to interpret a dream symbol
How do you usually approach dream symbols? Share in a comment below.
1. Explanation
Explanation works by simply stating what the image is and what we all agree it's for, objectively.
For example, if you dream of a car, you may say: a car is a vehicle you drive that gets you from A to B at whatever speed you choose. If you dream of a relative, you may use explanation to say "she's a middle-aged woman, my aunt who never got married and everyone thought was a bit odd". If you dream of a bedroom, you may explain it as that's where people sleep.
This may sound simplistic, but it can already give you so much meaningful information about a dream image. For example, you may notice if the object was used as expected in the dream or if it had an unusual purpose.
There's also a subjective level to explanation, which refers to how that object is used by you, differently from convention. For example, you may be a professional driver in your day-to-day life, so your car is where you spend most of your time and how you make money.
Questions to ask for working with explanation:
What is this used for?
Do you use it in a different way than the norm? How?
Was the object or person behaving as normal?
How would this work in a real situation? How is that different in the dream?
Is there any discrepancy between the action of the dream and how the dream ego is reacting?
2. Association
Associations go a level deeper into the dream image by picking out your personal memories, ideas, beliefs, images, or reactions that come to your mind when sitting with this image. They spring from your personal unconscious and belong to you only.
For example, thinking of the car example above, you may have memories of your first car come up and what that meant for you. You may remember the time you failed your driving test; a particular person who drove that was significant to you in childhood; even a traumatic event involving a car; the feeling of being suffocated like in a hot car; and so on.
When looking for associations, it's important that you stick with and come back to the dream image. Don't associate freely from associations, as this will lead you further from the dream.
Associations that fit usually have an emotional charge, like a physical reaction or an emotion bubbling up.
Questions you may ask to find associations:
If you're working on a character: what were they like? What qualities do you associate with them? How do you feel in their presence? What significant events happened between you?
If you're working with an object: where do you know this from? Who had this? What are your experiences with this object? What activities, religions, or groups of people is it associated with? What are its qualities (sturdy, fragile, valuable, fake, beautiful etc)?
If you're working with a place: did you ever visit that place? What was it like when you were there? How old were you and what was going on for you at that time? What are the qualities of this place (peaceful, frightening, dangerous, exciting etc)? What kind of people would you find there?
3. Amplification
Amplification is about descending into an even deeper level, into the collective unconscious. With archetypal amplification, we aim to find corresponding motifs from mythology, fairy tales, art, religion, even contemporary culture. This can help place the dream within a wider transpersonal perspective.
For example, you may dream of a pink flower growing on water and wish to understand it through the Buddhist perspective of the lotus. You may dream of a wedding and look into the alchemical image of the coniunctio, the coming together of opposites. Or you may dream of an animal and wish to see how various cultures honour or use this animal.
Archetypal amplification isn't always useful and sometimes can be a trap for spiritually bypassing the personal meaning of the dream and become focused with "symbol-hunting". At its most dangerous, it can lead to inflation, when the ego is overtaken by archetypal contents–losing our ability to function in the day-to-day (and, in extreme cases, psychosis).
So it's helpful to use it sparingly, especially with dreams that just can't don't lead anywhere using explanation and personal associations, or that are so abstract that you can't associate with.
Questions you may ask to find amplifications:
If you're working on a character: what were they like? What qualities do you associate with them? How do you feel in their presence? What significant events happened between you?
If you're working with an object: where do you know this from? Who had this? What are your experiences with this object? What activities, religions, or groups of people is it associated with? What are its qualities (sturdy, fragile, valuable, fake, beautiful etc)?
If you're working with a place: did you ever visit that place? What was it like when you were there? How old were you and what was going on for you at that time? What are the qualities of this place (peaceful, frightening, dangerous, exciting etc)? What kind of people would you find there?