Written by Lumi (Changyi Li), Visionary Artist & Healer
Lumi (Changyi Li) is an art healer and intuitive known by her visionary art and embodied spiritual practices on the journey of self-healing and personal growth. She created Illumina Free Soul Art, an online platform to heal and empower the world through authentic and heartfelt expression.
To know your dream is the same as knowing yourself. This process requires us to be patient, vigilant, discerning, and willing to receive the dream messages, as well as to have some knowledge of symbols. Symbols are the key to unlocking the enigma of dreams. Thanks to the ascended sages of the past, who walked the inner paths, we can study their legacies on dream interpretation to unravel the mysteries of our dreams. These inner workers closely observed their dreams by keeping a dream record, a method we can also use for dream exploration.
Know your symbols
In simple terms, symbols are images or objects that carry meanings and messages. They are the bridge connecting our three-dimensional reality to the multidimensional realities of our unconscious mind and other intangible realms. Symbols are the key messengers and revelations from our dream world.
Symbols can be personal, collective, or both. A personal symbol could be a bouquet of roses given by your soulmate, representing true love. At the same time, roses symbolize love, passion, and romance to many of us today, regardless of cultural or ethnic backgrounds, making them both collective and personal symbols. A personal symbol is often especially meaningful to you, holding your unique projections based on real-life experiences. For example, a special number, a phrase, a gift from someone, or a meaningful place.
When interpreting dreams, check whether the dream content is associated with personal symbols. Sometimes, it may take time to recognize the existence of certain symbols, especially those with negative associations that we tend to hide from.
The importance of collective symbols: The archetypes
Both personal and collective symbols are important to dream analysis. However, collective symbols can hold stronger significance, especially the ones that are named as archetypes by the psychoanalyst C. G. Jung. Archetypes are universal symbols and themes common to all cultures and times that have existed since the beginning of human civilization. They lie deep in our collective unconscious and form the common motifs across many spiritual belief systems, religions, myths, and legends. For example, the symbols of spirals and circles exist as the medicine wheel in many Western native cultures while showing up as the mandala in Tibetan Buddhism in the East, both representing the intrinsic wholeness of the psyche and the universe. Archetypes connect the individual psyche to the psyche of humanity. They form the foundation of our belief systems, values, and behaviours in our collective unconscious, and so have a greater latent impact on one’s psychic status and inner growth.
Some common archetypes one might encounter on his growth path are “the mother and the father (parental figures),” “the wise old sage (inner teacher or spiritual guidance),” “the lover (our inner masculine and feminine energy),” “the shadows (dark sides)” as well as some broader themes on personal growth like “the Hero’s Journey” and “the Dark Night of the Soul.” It is important to know how these collective symbols manifest through dreams and to integrate them into our consciousness for our healing and reconciliation toward psychic wholeness.
Some resources to learn about dream symbols
Many of Jung’s works are great resources for learning about personal and collective symbols, which can be useful for our self-dream interpretation and analysis. For instance, Man and His Symbols, The Undiscovered Self: With Symbols and the Interpretation of Dreams, and Memories, Dreams, Reflections.
A key reminder of dream interpretation
Although learning and research are essential, we shall always refer to and align our personal feelings and growth journeys during dream analysis and interpretation. Never just rely on precedents and references. The common dream symbols we can learn from are only meaningful and alive when combined with our personal inner status and real-life experiences, so their meanings are never to be taken as definite or absolute.
Interpreting our dreams requires us to be honest with our truths and willing to dive into our depths to see both the light and shadows. Our unconscious, through our dreams, will reveal more messages and information when we are open to receive and know.
Tips on keeping a dream record
Your consciousness merges with the unconscious when you just wake up from a dream, so the dream contents feel very fresh. If you sleep back or choose to wake up, the dream you just had can quickly retreat to the unconscious and can be difficult to retrieve again. So, if you want to record the dream, especially if you feel its significance, start recording the dream instantly when you just wake up. I woke up in the middle of the night after vivid dreams many times, and I was glad that I recorded them instantly and then went to sleep again. Because the dreams all went quite blurry in my mind the next morning. But through my instant records, I was able to remember the details.
During the state of half awake and half asleep, after you wake up from a dream, you may shut your eyes again and try not to think. Set a gentle intention to “slip back” to the dream scenes. Try to immerse yourself in this state. Allow your mind to sit back and watch your “dream movies” without much conscious interference. At the same time, record your “movies” using the media you are familiar with, such as pen and paper or electronic devices.
Record as detailed as possible, and don’t worry if your writing does not follow a linear logic. Just see what jumps out instantly and what you remember the most. Try not to make corrections or edit your wording or phrasing so that your mind does not interrupt too much of this process. And try not to think too hard. Let it go if your mind starts to strive for the details.
You may record:
The storyline, ambiance, and feelings/emotions in the dream
The perspective of the dream scenes and any shifts and changes
Any human and non-human figures, e.g., animals, and their interactions
Content of any conversations
The nature of places in the dream scenes
Any content that leaves you with a profound feeling or significance
Guidance on dream interpretation based on your dream records
What do you intuitively feel about your dream? Do not start interpreting logically. Refer to the symbols you know of.
Write your intuitive feelings and any dream symbols you noticed. You may see a flow coming out as you write since this process reconnects you to the unconscious again and opens it up. It is a good way to help you explore your dreams as your intuitive writing can reveal more messages to you, maybe a feeling, a channeled message, or an inner knowing.
How does the dream relate to your current phase in life, both your inner and outer lives? Make some instant associations. If you find it difficult to relate, then the dream might be a manifestation of the unconscious part of your psyche, e.g., shadow sides. Or it can be a premonition dream.
When making associations, always be open and never set your current interpretations as definite. The meanings of dreams emerge and evolve through time as you live your life, so leave space for them to surface, and always go back to your dream records and write down any discoveries.
Who are you in the dream? And how does the dream represent yourself? Very often, we notice we are not in our “daily normality” in dreams, or we shift perspectives, e.g., from first-person perspective to observing. It is worth exploring the "I" in dreams, as we all have facets of ourselves yet to be known which our dreams will reveal. Symbolically speaking, all the figures in dreams are the projections of ourselves.
Mark the dream contents that feel important or profound to you. These might be the contents that your dream is bringing you special attention or the “key points” in the dream.
The emotions and ambiance of the dream can be a projection of your inner status, whether mental, emotional, or spiritual. For example, nightmares are often the projections of fear, stress, or negative emotions that are repressed and denied by us in the daytime.
Notice the space you are in and its changes. Is there any specific place or architecture that leaves you with a deep impression, such as a funny-shaped house or an old antique room? You may wish to jot down the space in detail: is the space open or enclosed, bright or dark, modern or ancient, natural or artificial, familiar or unfamiliar to you, etc? The dream space represents the layers, features, and nature of our consciousness and the unconscious. One of Jung’s significant dreams was a descent from the top Rococo-style rooms in a big house down to a prehistoric cave. This dream was the key for him to unlock different layers of human consciousness. It made him discover the collective unconscious, represented by the prehistoric cave at the bottom level of the building.
Pay attention to the figures in your dreams and your interactions with them.
Who are they? Do you know them in real life, or are they fictional or mythical? How do they show themselves to you?
Notice the mythical, religious, or spiritual figures. They are archetypical symbols manifested in the most straightforward way. They often bring direct messages and teachings to you on your path.
Notice any appearances of your close relationship, e.g., partners & original family. As your closest links, original family members tend to have the greatest influences on shaping your values and belief systems, and romantic partners tend to mirror your original family relationships and the core lessons to learn on your personal development journey. It is very common for one at the stage of resolving issues with close relationships to dream of those figures. The changes and shifts in how they appear to or interact with you in dreams often represent the changes and evolution of your relationships, e.g., old attachments being released or long-standing problems reconciled.
Passed figures, e.g., family members and close friends. Their return might symbolize the healing of your past; an old part of your psyche gets reintegrated into your conscious awareness. Or, this might be their soul communicating with you.
According to Jungian dream analysis, there are some common dream contents, symbols, and their general meanings that you may refer to, especially if you are in the phase of inner transformation:
A large body of water, e.g., the ocean: you are entering/getting close to the infinite space of the unconscious.
Raining: your unconscious is integrating with consciousness. The rain is the symbol that connects it comes from the sky and waters the land, joining the above and the below.
Entering an underground space or unknown room in a building, you are diving into the unknown part of yourself to reintegrate and heal that part of you that you previously did not know.
Flying: your soul self manifests you that is boundless, creative, and free. It can represent your unconscious desire to reconnect with your soul.
Death: unlikely to foreshadow physical death in real life but symbolizes the ending of certain phases of your journey or life lesson and the beginning of another. In the world of symbols, death is always the synonym for rebirth.
Marriage: similar to death, it does not necessarily foreshadow actual marriage, though it can be a romantic projection. Symbolically, it marks the ending of a previous phase in life and implies the psyche is becoming more integrated and whole, with the inner masculine and feminine energy becoming more balanced.
Don’t overanalyze or cling to certain details you cannot work out. Dreams are meant to be mysterious this is where their magic lies. Always refer to the general feeling of this dream, see how the details find their place in the dream, and leave space for the mystery to exist and unfold over time.
Lumi (Changyi Li), Visionary Artist & Healer
Lumi is a visionary and intuitive with the mission to serve as a healer through art. Her expression springs from her growth and self-healing journey and centers around themes on personal development, self-empowerment, re-connection to ancient wisdom and nature. Lumi shares her heartfelt expression on social media and website. Her art has been showcased in various UK-based exhibitions and magazines. Being passionate about inspiring and connecting to those who walk on similar journeys, Lumi is open to commission and collaboration which aligns to her mission. Her core value: to heal others one needs to commit to ones own growth journey; in the end it is love that heals it all.
