Dream Dictionary
A dictionary from the Spellbook — symbols A–Z, and themes from Alphabet through Wedding.
The symbol list and themes follow the Dream Moods A–Z dictionary and theme pages. The readings here are written for the Spellbook. A symbol is a reading, not a prediction.
O
O
The letter O is a small gasp of surprise, or a mouth that needs to open and say the thing.
Oak Tree
An oak stands for long life, steadiness, strength, and wisdom you have already rooted. Acorns on it point to a rise in status.
Oars
Oars are control of feeling, steering by skills you have already learned. One oar means you are circling, short a partner or short of help; a lost oar is a rhythm you stopped noticing.
Oasis
An oasis is the need for a real break and unhurried pleasure. Searching for one is fear, insecurity, and a hunt for emotional support.
Oath
Taking an oath is a demand for truth, plus commitment you mean to keep. Refusing one means you are trying to conceal something.
Oatmeal
Eating oatmeal means you are steady and grounded. Cooking it is influence over someone close; an oatmeal cookie says a small indulgence is allowed.
Oats
Oats stand for simplicity, comfort, and the plain needs that keep a life going.
Obedience
Obedience can be respect for something larger than you, or a sign you are not speaking your view loudly enough. Refusal is a rebellious mood, often from insecurity.
Obelisk
An obelisk shows a manner that has gone cold and hard, and a need to soften toward people. Its shape can also be sexual.
Obese
Extra weight in the dream is overdoing it, and a padded distance from a situation you do not want to enter. It may also mirror real worries about your body and how you see it.
See also Fat.
Obituary
An obituary ends old attitudes and beliefs that no longer fit. Reading your own means you are selling your abilities short.
Obligation
Someone obligated to you means you are ready for a higher level of success. You obligated to them is duty and responsibility you already feel.
Oblivious
Being oblivious means one focus is so tight that you miss what else is happening. Treat it as a wake-up.
Obscene
Something obscene touches sex, or a part of yourself you reject. If it repels you, the dream may be regret over what you have done.
Observatory
An observatory marks high aims, and a prompt to admit a spiritual side.
Observe
See also Watching.
Obsession
An obsession is a difficulty that could take over the day and keep you from functioning if you do not work through it.
Obsidian
Obsidian asks whether you are grounded, or need to be. It can also stand for grief.
Obstacle
Obstacles are the waking problems you still have to get past, and a hint about how to meet them. Doubt in your own decision often sits underneath.
Obstacle Courses
An obstacle course maps the hardships between you and a goal. Each barrier matches a real block in the way.
Occultist
An occultist means something just under the surface wants to be acknowledged, a piece of wisdom you can use while awake.
Ocean
The ocean is the state of your feelings: refreshment and calm, or, if the water is rough, turmoil you are trying to ride. Sailing it is new freedom and courage.
See also Water.
Octagon
An octagon signals a spiritual waking, lasting life, or a return after an ending.
October
October points to success in your efforts that feels genuinely satisfying.
Octopus
An octopus is a hard matter you are tangled in, with judgment gone cloudy. It can also be possessiveness, and two of them a bond where neither person can stand alone.
Odd Numbers
Odd numbers point to unfinished business, aggressive behavior, and a life that feels off balance.
Odometer
An odometer measures how far you have come, or how little. It may be asking you to set smaller milestones; the digits on it can matter.
Odor
An odor brings back a memory. A sweet scent and a rotten one tell opposite stories about that past; the smell of death means a finished situation you should leave alone.
Offal
Offal, especially raw, is something that disgusts you, and the word can pun on awful. Eating it can also mean you are open to a new experience.
Offense
Being offended is sensitivity you have not said out loud, eating at you anyway. Offending others means you need more care for their feelings.
Offering
An offering is an attempt to make up for an old mistake, or a surrender of some of your power. What you offer supplies the clue.
Office
Your office means work that will not stay at work. A strange office is you measuring yourself by someone else's standard; holding public office is accepting the results of what you do.
Office Chair
An office chair is how movable your career feels, and whether you can adapt when the job changes.
Officer
An officer is the wish to belong to a larger group, or a need for discipline and direction. Being one shows leadership and an air of authority.
Offspring
Offspring stand for a part of yourself you are trying to nurture, and a reminder to make room for the younger side of you.
See also Children.
Ogre
An ogre is the harsh judge inside you, the part that drives you with strict discipline.
Oil
Oil is the wish for things to run more smoothly, or for more warmth between people.
Oil Lamp
A lit oil lamp is knowledge, a new awareness, or a search for reassurance. Oil spilling from it means you are drained and overwhelmed.
Oil Platform
An oil platform is an attempt to reach the center of an emotional problem. If it burns or sinks, feeling is swamping you before you can go deeper.
Oil Spill
An oil spill is emotional turmoil and distress inside your personal relationships.
Ointment
Ointment marks a stretch of healing already underway.
Old
Something old may need replacing, or it may be a piece of the past worth bringing into the present.
Olive Green
Olive green is natural wisdom and a calm you still need to build around you.
Olives
Olives stand for healing and a life that lasts. A branch or a crown of leaves is peace after conflict, and a burden lifted.
Olympics
Competing in the Olympics is competitive drive, the will to pursue a real aim, and a picture of people uniting despite disagreement. It can also be a straight wish to be that kind of athlete.
Omelet
An omelet is a bright start and a sense that you are headed the right way. The familiar saying adds that some goals ask you to break a few things first.
Omen
An omen reflects worry about what comes next, and a wish to control an outcome you cannot yet see.
One-Eyed
One eye means you refuse another point of view and stay stuck on a single side.
Onion
An onion is the layers you still have to peel before the real situation shows. Tears from it mark a display of feeling that is not genuine.
Onions
Onions are layers between you and what is actually underneath, so keep digging. If they make you cry, the feeling on display is false.
Online Game
An online game is escape from daily stress, and a wish to be someone who is in control. Shared online worlds can also be teamwork, or a social gap you are filling on a screen.
Onyx
Onyx stands for confidence, a settled mind, and calm. It can also be a power you have not yet admitted.
Opal
An opal points to desire and a love life that wants more passion. Some traditions also read it as tears and heartache.
Open Floor Plan
An open floor plan asks you to stop splitting yourself into sealed rooms. It can also mean more honesty with your family.
Opening
An opening is a strong influence entering your life and lifting your confidence. Opening something yourself is potential let out, and a new chance.
Opera
An opera is a hunger for a grander life, or a hint that the waking matter has turned theatrical.
Operation
An operation means something needs to come out of your life, a habit or a weight you should release. A military one asks for disciplined planning rather than a rushed choice.
See also Surgery.
Operator
A telephone operator is a search for guidance into what you do not yet understand about yourself.
Opium
Opium means you are delaying a decision and leaning on something outside yourself. It can also be a simple need to rest.
Opossum
See also Possum.
Opponent
An opponent is a part of yourself you are fighting. Notice what the fight is actually about.
Opposite Sex
Becoming the opposite sex asks you to take on qualities you usually leave to the other side, and to notice how that feels.
Optician/Optometrist
An optician or optometrist means a problem is still blurry. You need another angle before it comes clear.
Opulence
See also Wealth.
Oracle
An oracle is belief in fate, and a wish to know what is ahead. It also offers the reassurance you need in order to move.
Oral Sex
Giving or receiving oral sex is willingness to offer pleasure or to accept it, and a sign your creative energy is aimed well. It can also mean you need to talk with a partner about what you want.
Orange
Orange is friendliness, generosity, and a lively wish to meet people. It wakes the senses and invites a wider set of interests.
Orange Juice
Orange juice is energy and vitality. Spilling it pushes you toward company instead of staying closed off.
Oranges
An orange tree is health and prosperity. Eating the fruit is satisfaction with where you are, or a need to feel lively again.
Orangutan
An orangutan is a wilder inner character and sexual wanting. It can also mean someone is steering you.
Orb
An orb is a sudden grasp of the truth about a nagging problem. It can also be something from deeper in you trying to surface; many colors lean positive.
Orca
An orca asks you to be more social or to speak up. It can also be guidance as you connect conscious life with what sits underneath.
Orchard
An orchard is room for success still ahead of you. It can also stand for fertility.
Orchestra
An orchestra is inner harmony, the wish to be accepted, or music that ties you to other people. Conducting one is control, and sometimes a plan you are quietly arranging.
Orchids
Orchids are gentleness, romance, and sensual beauty that needs careful tending. They can also remind you that wealth is already around you.
Ore
Ore means lessons you are still digesting. The material may need to be broken apart before you can use it.
Organ
Hearing or playing an organ ties you to spiritual or religious feeling, and the instrument can also be a sexual image. An internal organ raises a health concern; name which one.
Organist
An organist stands for discipline, harmony, and a spirituality you are ready to express.
Organize
Organizing means a life issue needs sorting until it has order. It can also mean the days have gone dull and repetitive.
Orgasm
An orgasm is an exciting finish to something you just completed. Missing one is frustration, and that lack may not be sexual at all.
Orgy
An orgy points to desire you have kept tightly held, or to energy scattered in too many directions at once.
Orient
The Orient, as a place in the dream, is spiritual waking, wisdom, and intuition. It may also ask you to reconsider your goals.
Origami
Origami is creativity asking to be folded into words or images. Notice what you make; that object carries the rest of the meaning.
Oriole
An oriole stands for sunlight, brightness, and a happiness that feels like summer.
Ornament
An ornament is something you do to feel better, and it can also be a spiritual gift.
Orphan
An orphan is fear of being left, loneliness, and rejection. Being one yourself asks for more independence, or reminds you that you have love to give.
Orphanage
An orphanage is the question of whether you belong, and the fear that no one understands you. Escaping it is a wish to leave rules behind and find your own place.
Orthodontist
An orthodontist raises worry about how you look. It can also mean your authority in some area is fading.
Ostrich
An ostrich means you are avoiding a reality you do not want to accept. It can also stand for truth and justice, and its egg for a new beginning.
Otoscope
An otoscope says you are missing something you should be hearing. Listen more closely.
Otter
An otter is play, happiness, and good luck, and feelings you are moving through with ease.
Ottoman
An ottoman is rest. Slow down and take time that belongs only to you.
Ouija Board
An Ouija board means a plan or a relationship is coming apart, or that you are ready to risk something in order to move. A board that fails warns that chasing pleasure could undo you.
Out Of Order
Out of order, as a broken thing, is a block on the way to a goal, or a part of life that no longer works. Out of sequence, it asks you to rethink the order of your thoughts.
Outbreak
An outbreak means resentment is running your behavior and negativity is taking the lead.
Outcast
Being an outcast points to a quality in yourself that you have rejected and may need to release.
Outer Space
Outer space is creativity without a boundary. It can also mean a person or event that seemed to arrive from nowhere.
Outhouse
An outhouse asks you to be more open with feeling you have been holding back.
Outlaw
Being an outlaw is the unruly side of your character, or the sense that ordinary limits are for other people.
Outlet
An outlet is unused energy and potential. It can also be a jolt, or a channel you are seeking for raw feeling.
Outside
Being outside is freedom, openness, and room to spread out. It can also tell you to stop closing yourself off.
Oval
An oval stands for the womb and for feminine qualities, and also for the felt field of your own presence.
Ovaries
Ovaries point to a wish for children or a preoccupation with conception. They can also mean fruitfulness and a new start.
Oven
A hot oven is warmth and loyalty among people close to you, and it can stand for the womb. A toy oven means that loyalty is performed rather than felt.
Oven Mitts
Oven mitts mean an emotional matter that has to be handled carefully, or a deal or romance that could burn you if you rush.
Overalls
Overalls suggest a sloppy attitude, or a deliberately easygoing one.
Overcoat
An overcoat is a shield against hurt, a wall you put on before the day can reach you.
Overdose
An overdose means you do not know your limit and may be pushing too hard. It can also be a path that is damaging you and needs a real change.
Ovulation
See also Menstruation.
Owl
An owl is wisdom, insight, and a tie to intuition, and also to darkness and what you should release. A white owl is new awareness; a hoot warns of disappointment; a dead owl is a transition or the end of a harmful habit.
Ox
An ox balances strength with a quieter, receptive power, and it stands for hard work you can rely on. The familiar comparison also names stubbornness.
Oxygen
Oxygen is renewal and creative energy, a feeling of being refreshed. Too little of it means a situation is smothering you.
Oxygen Mask
An oxygen mask means you feel helpless, stifled, or unable to get your feelings out.
Oysters
Eating oysters points to sexual appetite and pleasure. The shellfish can also mean beauty and wisdom, or a life closed against other people; shells alone suggest money worries.