Now you have the outline of a dream interpretation process that’s taken me 25 years to develop. Tested thousands of times on the dreams of people around the world. It works, and it’s as simple as it gets.
And it’s only a starting point.
Dreams are endlessly varied and layered and my crash course on dream interpretation can only teach so much. Plus, some dreams can’t be understood conventionally. We’re accustomed to cause and effect, and in this course on dream interpretation I have shown causes from outer and inner life and their effects on dream life. But dreaming isn’t linear, and we’re only beginning to really understand what it is and what it’s for.
You’re ready now to take the next steps at Dream School. I suggest the course on Dream Symbols if you’re new to the subject, and Advanced Dream Interpretation if you’re ready for the deep dive. Both courses are included in the Master Dream Interpretation Course Bundle.
You are the only one who really knows what your dreams mean, and you have the rest of your life to figure it all out.
Let’s review
3 Simple Facts
- Subconsciously, you know what your dreams mean. You know it while dreaming and it influences how you react.
- Dreams are stories. Like parables, they teach and illuminate.
- Dreams use symbolism. They are figurative and hide the meaning behind symbolic imagery.
3 Steps of Dream Interpretation
- Elements and Components: Break down a dream into story elements and narrative components.
- Interpret and Analyze: Interpret the symbolism and analyze the story.
- Connect and Reflect: Connect a dream’s details in context and reflect on your life.
Answer these questions if you can
Trace the source of a dream. Is it in outer life? If so, you’re looking for the source in recent events and experiences. Inner life? If that’s the source of a dream, you focus on what you’ve been thinking and feeling lately and experiencing in your core.
Either way, look for the source in your memories, keeping in mind that events of your internal life register subconsciously as being just as real and valid as events of your outer life.
Find what a dream is teaching and showing. What’s the moral of the story?
Translate a dream from symbolic language into everyday language. What is the dream really saying?
Why did you give yourself the experience?
Look to the opening scene for the dream’s subject or central idea. What’s the center of gravity that connects the dots?
The dream interpretation process
Look for inroads to the meaning in anything about a dream that you can understand or follow into your memories, beginning with the most recent memories and going back. Pick up a thread found in the symbolism and story and follow it.
Question the details and why the dream tells the story the way it does. Question yourself based on the clues in the dream.
You may not be able to answer these questions at first. Focus on something you can decode or understand or trace. Follow the clues. Go where the evidence leads. Or just sit with some aspect of the dream such as a setting or character and wait for ideas and answers to come to you.
4 Keys for Quick Dream Analysis
“Quick” is the key word. These keys for quick dream analysis help you generate ideas for the meaning of a dream or some aspect of it. A key only opens the doors. You still must walk through it to find what’s on the other side.
- Consider the obvious meaning.
- Follow your feelings.
- Simplify.
- Identify metaphors and other storytelling devices.
Consider the obvious meaning
Some dreams have obvious meaning. The message is right there.
Example: A woman dreams she goes behind her home and finds steps leading down into an underground room. She sees her boyfriend waiting for her at a table in the middle of the room and sits across from him. He tells her, “Limit your intake of red meat.” He repeats the message twice. What’s the obvious message?
Another example: A man dreams about his bed catching on fire. He wakes up and has a hunch to check behind the bed. A wall outlet has gone bad and an electrical cord is smokin’ hot.
The meaning of some dreams is obvious. The message is obvious. Less red meat may mean something else such as less heaviness, and that’s what the dreamer really needs, less heaviness in her life, but limiting red meat can also mean just that: limit your intake of red meat.
A bed on fire is a visual metaphor for hot, sexual passion.
In both cases, the people who had these dreams start with the obvious message and test it by applying the advice. But they also test what they think the know about a dream by considering other possible meanings and seeing how they react in their feelings. If the man who had the bedroom dream feels like he’s burning up with passion, he may think that’s the meaning. But he was wise to follow his feelings and look behind his bed. Otherwise, he may have missed the obvious message and found out to the hard way that the image of a burning bed is NOT a metaphor!
Follow your feelings
They’re based on simple fact #1. They reveal aspects of the dream’s story and symbolism. Symbols are two-sided, the situational and emotional sides shown as one. When you reverse-engineer a dream, you do so knowing there’s an emotional side, and for some people it’s the best way through the interpretation process. Their feelings tell them all they need to know.
Feelings are often expressed through reactions, a narrative component. The dream sets up a story and you react to it, and it shows you what you really think and feel.
Simplify
In simplest terms, describe the dream itself, a scene within it or a detail of it. This helps you to see the idea or set of ideas behind the imagery. Then you formulate questions for yourself based on the simple idea. It doesn’t work in all cases, but it’s the first tool I pull out of the box.
Identify storytelling devices
Your dreaming mind is a terrific storyteller, and metaphorical symbolism is its go-to method. Follow that road first to the interpretation. If you find a metaphor enacted, such as “climb the ladder” or “slippery road,” it’s likely to be an idea that connects all other details. It’s your quickest way for finding the route that leads to the meaning.
Now you know how to interpret dreams like RadOwl
I invite you to join me at Reddit Dreams. It’s a community of dream enthusiasts eager for help understanding their dreams. If you want to be a dream interpreter, think of it as on-the-job training, and your job is to help people figure out their dreams for themselves. You have the tools, the information, the D3 process.
You really are the best interpreter of your dreams. You just need to know how to do it.
Continue your training at Dream School. Simple. Modern. Effective.
Thank you for joining me. Let’s stay in touch.
Just in case you missed lesson #1, it’s below. Start there and you can run through this course beginning to end.