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.
The place sets the mood. An unknown landscape still borrows the feeling of somewhere you have been, or of a person who belongs to that feeling.
A
Abbey
An abbey brings a quiet mind and the sense that help is near. In ruins, it means hope has thinned and work stays unfinished.
Airport
An airport joins a beginning with an ending. Crowded, it is ambition about to depart; empty, it means plans are delayed.
Alley
An alley means choices are narrow, or home duties have pulled you off a goal. Walking through one can feel like a dead end, though the old phrase can also mean the fit is good.
Amusement Park
An amusement park asks for more play, and each ride can stand for part of your life. Empty or broken, it means fun is missing or plans are failing.
Apartment
An apartment reflects money or mood. A grand one means you are headed the right way; a rundown one means turmoil in finances or feeling.
Asylum
An asylum means mental strain has grown large and you are ready to admit you need help.
B
Beach
Sand meeting water is reason beside unsteady feeling, a crossing between practical life and the spirit. Looking seaward is change you cannot yet name; resting there is a calmer stretch ahead.
Building
The structure is the self: height in it is rising awareness, ruins mean the approach is wrong, and a collapse means material ambition is failing. A fall from it descends into what lies under awareness, or names fear you will not finish.
C
Cafeteria
A cafeteria means a pile of worries is eating at you from the inside.
Carnival
A carnival is show and deception, and a ride that only circles. Running away with it ties you to entertainment and spectacle.
Casino
A casino is the part of you that gambles. If you are usually cautious, take one real chance; if you already gamble, decide with more information.
Castle
A castle is honor and reward for what you have achieved, or a wish to hide from daily trouble. Living in one can become isolation; standing outside the door is a large chance you missed.
Cemetery
A cemetery is the end of a habit, and sometimes grief or fear of death that is still open. Cleaning the grounds is respect for where you came from, and honesty about the past.
Church
The outside of a church is what you hold sacred. Inside, you are looking for guidance after a setback, or questioning where the path leads; damage to the building is a spiritual need ignored, or hostility toward part of yourself.
City
A city is your social world. A large one can mean you feel alone and need closer ties; a deserted or ruined one is rejection or neglected relationships; one underwater or underground is shared human depth; one in the sky is hopes set too high.
Classroom
A classroom is an important lesson, or growth in self-knowledge. Searching for one means you need to learn more; an outdoor one asks you to be freer and more adaptable.
Cliff
The edge of a cliff is a new view and a decision you cannot fumble. Falling is fear of what comes next; climbing is ambition, the wish to rise in your work.
Concentration Camp
A concentration camp is fear of difference, in others or in yourself. If you lived through one, a present situation is stirring that same feeling.
Corner
A corner is frustration and little control over a decision. You feel trapped, and sometimes you are punishing yourself.
Corridor
A corridor is a passage between stages, inner growth and new chances. A long one is desperation to escape a repeating pattern, or many options still to weigh.
Court
Standing in court is a struggle with fear and guilt. You feel judged and under pressure to defend yourself.
Crossroads
A crossroads is a real decision, with paths that lead to different ends. It is also a change of direction.
D
Desert
A desert means loss, a lonely stretch, or the feeling of being left behind. Your good name may be under strain.
Dock
A dock means you have come through a hard emotional stretch. An empty dock means you feel used up.
Docks
The docks mean a journey ahead that will not favor you.
Dungeon
A dungeon holds private wishes, and it says you can get past obstacles by staying with the struggle and using what you know.
E
F
Farm
A farm means you are ready to grow a part of yourself and use the potential there.
Festival
A festival means celebration and a good place in life. It can also mean you want to disappear into a crowd.
Field
Green fields mean abundance and room to grow. Freshly plowed ones mean an early rise, and barren ones mean a bleak outlook.
Fish Market
A fish market means pleasure. Rotting fish there mean distress arriving dressed as happiness.
Forest
A forest means a transition, or a wish for a simpler life. Being lost in one means you are searching yourself for a clearer understanding.
See also Woods.
G
Garden
A food garden says steady work will pay, and that a skill or a private life needs tending. Flowers lean toward calm and domestic warmth; weeds mean that care has been neglected.
Gutter
A gutter means you feel low and unhappy. Finding something worthwhile there shows value in a place you had written off, and the image can also pun on crude thoughts.
Gymnasium
A gymnasium says use what you have learned in daily life. It can also be a plain reminder that your body needs more exercise.
H
Harbor
A harbor is shelter from a rough relationship until you can think. It can also pun on ill feeling you are still harboring.
Heaven
Heaven is the wish for a happiness that feels complete, and a place to recover hope when the days are hard.
Hell
Hell is a bind you cannot see a way out of, often because you handed the decision to someone else. It can also be guilt you keep using to punish yourself.
Hospital
A hospital is the need to heal and return to ordinary life. It can also mean you are handing control of your body to someone else.
Hotel
A hotel is a shift in identity and a temporary move away from old habits. It can also be a loss of the self you recognize.
I
J
Jail
Being locked in jail means a job, a bond, or a situation feels airless and shut. It can also be guilt you are using to punish yourself.
Jungle
A jungle is the unruly part of you, and a waking life that feels chaotic and hard to predict. Being lost in it means bitter feelings are blocking the way forward.
L
M
Mall
A mall is the choices that will shape who you become. It can also be the wish to impress, or a chase after the latest thing.
Mansion
A mansion is your largest potential, often while the present feels stuck. One in the sky is a lofty aim, or the wish to live above everyone else.
Market
A market is a need, emotional or bodily, that is not being met. A bare one is gloom and an empty place in life; a full one is choice.
See also Store.
Marsh
A marsh is shaky feeling: bogged down, unsure how to reach the goal. Drained, you are weary, or lost.
See also Swamp.
Mausoleum
A mausoleum is calm. One matter has settled inside you.
Meadow
A meadow is openness and safety. You are pausing to notice what you have already done.
Mine
A mine means you are digging toward the center of a problem, or something buried is rising. It can also pun on claiming what is yours.
Mountain
A mountain is a major obstacle. The summit means the goal is reached and your capacity is recognized; climbing is determination, and a fall is rushing the path or quitting when the demand rises.
Mountains
Mountains are several large obstacles at once. The summit is a goal realized; climbing is ambition, and a fall is hurry, or the habit of escaping what is hard.
Movie Theater
A movie theater is protection from your own feelings by putting them on a screen, where they seem to belong to someone else.
Museum
A museum is a nontraditional road to success, and your own history, which still has lessons. Objects there are memories and talents; being lost inside means the past still has you.
O
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.
Observatory
An observatory marks high aims, and a prompt to admit a spiritual side.
Opera
An opera is a hunger for a grander life, or a hint that the waking matter has turned theatrical.
Orchard
An orchard is room for success still ahead of you. It can also stand for fertility.
P
Palace
A palace is wealth, prominence, and potential you are ready to use. Living in one means success is close.
Park
A park is a brief escape and a quiet reset after conflict. Parking a car there is a wish to settle down.
Parking Lot
A parking lot says slow down and leave the schedule for a while. No open space means you have not found your place; it can also mirror a life that is simply too full.
Party
A party says you need to go out and enjoy yourself; a bad one doubts your social skill. Planning one can be too much method, or real stress about an event you are actually hosting.
Post Office
A post office is a message from inner wisdom, or a need to reach someone.
Prison
Prison is a life where expression and creativity feel censored. Someone else inside is a part of you that cannot speak freely.
See also Jail.
Q
Quagmire
A quagmire is obligations you cannot meet and goals you cannot reach. You are stuck in a rut.
R
S
School
School brings old feelings of not being enough, often left over from childhood. It can also be the lessons waking life is teaching now.
See also Teacher.
Sidewalk
A sidewalk is steady progress and a direction through life. You may be trying a new way of living.
Store
A store is mental and emotional strain, or a search among many choices for a new idea. The word can pun on what is in store.
See also Market.
Subway
A subway is reaching a goal by an inner route, or a decision made too fast.
Swamp
A swamp is the darker part of you that you keep down. It can also pun on feeling swamped by work or by a bond.
T
U
Underground
Going below ground means you are forcing thoughts down when you should explore them, or you want to lie low. An underground train is anxiety from an odd situation.
V
W
Wine Cellar
A cellar stores past experience, both the good and the bad.
Wood
Wood can mean you feel dead and automatic inside. It can pun on sexual arousal.
Woods
The woods are fertility and spring, or the unknown and your instinct. Walking through them is a return to a simpler side of yourself.
Workshop
A workshop is skill being developed, and a search for who you are.
Z
Zoo
A zoo is lost freedom, talent going unnoticed, or chaos that needs tidying. Animals getting out means hidden desires will not stay caged.