Last Updated on November 4, 2020 by Avia

Dream Meanings Animals Intro: Interpreting Animals in our Dreams

Dream Meanings – Animals in Dreams: When we think of dream meanings, it’s critical to classify the dream. To explain, a dream about flying will have quite a different meaning than a dream about robots. There are loads and loads of different kinds of dreams. Each category carries a different insight – a different message. If you’re interested in different kinds of dream meanings, you might want to check out my landing page on dreams. 

That article includes a lot of links to articles about different kinds of dreams. Here’s the link: Understanding Dreams and Dream Interpretation.

Although I’ve written plenty of articles on individual animal dream meanings, I haven’t properly addressed the overarching significance of animals in dreams. It’s true, each different animal will have a different message to deliver in a dream. But even if you can’t get in tune with the message of that single dream animal, you can certainly approach the dream from a broader perspective.

What do I mean by that? I mean every dream dreamt about an animal has commonality. It doesn’t matter if you’re dreaming of an aardvark or a zebra. All animal dreams (no matter what the animal) will hold ubiquitous (universal, ever-present) meaning.

And why is that? Well, it has to do with brain function. Most of us, especially in this modern era of human-mind evolution, have a hard-wired understanding of animals. We know that they live outside (the wild ones, at least). We know they have their own rules about the community. We know they reproduce by their own rules too. We know that most fuzzy creatures move on four legs (but most of us know there are exceptions to this). We know fish live in water. We know birds fly in the sky. Simple rules, right? We all know them when it comes to the animal kingdom.

Sure, we may not know hair-splitting details about each animal…like how vultures see ultraviolet light, or how a tarantula can live without food for over a year. Nonetheless, all creatures on this earth share broad, common ground in a dream.

Such as?

Well…consider. What do animals symbolize for you? Here are a few keyword concepts that might inspire your response to that question…

Potential Animal Dream Meanings and Ideas

• Will
• Wild
• Purity
• Society
• Instinct
• Survival
• Patience
• Knowing
• Patience
• Presence
• Freedom
• Innocence
• Unification
• Acceptance
• Adaptability
• Unquestioning
• Resourcefulness

Now, I want to elucidate on a few of these keywords. Like…”Unification”, what? Well…think about it. All animals are unified with their environment. They are married to their surroundings. They move hand-in-hand (or fin-to-fin, feather-to-feather, whatever) with Mother Nature.

Which brings me to another qualification…the word “Unquestioning”. Do you think a wolf questions why it hunts and devours the rabbit? I rather doubt it. Do you think the sparrow questions why it’s preparing a nest for oncoming egg-laying? Nope.

These keywords, along with these explanations are a big deal for animal dream meanings.

When we dream of animals, we would do well to consider concepts of “unification”. Are we ONE with our universe? Can we accept our environment? Can we adapt to our surroundings? If you’re having an animal dream, these might be prime questions.

Likewise, animal dream meanings might beckon us to surrender to our nature. What do I mean by that? It has to do with that curious concept of ‘unquestioning’. Animals neither question their existence, nor question their nature.

Am I saying we all go primal, bear fangs and pounce on the first skittering prey we see? Absolutely not. We’re human. That means we are designed to question. We’re hard-wired to contemplate who we are, and our role in this world.

So let me refine that concept of being unquestioning. I mean it in terms of surrender. I guess the concept is best summed up by saying: “Shit happens. Get over it.” This is terribly vulgar, and oversimplified, but I have a point. As humans, we ALL have the tendency to over analyze. We can question everything to the point of making our minds a pile of mush. The whole process of guessing, second-guessing, over-questioning, analyzing, scrutinizing, strategizing…it’s exhausting!To question is good, and healthy. To go overboard can be debilitating.

With all that said, I’m suggesting to surrender to “what is”, and embrace the energetic waves of life, the way animals do. Occasionally resist the urge to ceaselessly question. Rather…go with the flow of Nature. Move in tandem with the undulations of life.

To be sure…Nature is connected to life. Also, Nature and Life are connected to the Universe. We’d be fools to think essences so powerful and grandiose as Nature, Life and Universe don’t have their own rhythms, cycles and flow.

All I’m saying is rather than hammer square answers in our demanding round holes….maybe (occasionally) we might want to release ourselves to the rhythm of Nature/Universe, as animals do. Maybe sometimes it’s a good thing to roll with the flow rather than cram questions into life’s problems (often making them more difficult).

In short, animal dream meanings speak to us about moving to Nature’s heartbeat.And that movement is done with crazy, childlike faith. We just roll with Nature’s flow…unquestioningly…just like our animal family.

Animal dream meanings also speak to us about unifying with our community, family, society. Sure, animals do battle. But if you’ll notice, they have a blowup, and in ALL cases, IT IS DONE! There are no grudges. There are no hurt feelings. Battle is for a purpose. Once the purpose is served, the slate is clean. Done deal. There are BIG dream-lessons in that.

What kind of lessons? I’ll let you think about it, but I’ll give you some hints. There are times in all of our lives when we’ve got to show up, stand up, and stick up for ourselves. Once that is done, what happens to our psyche? How do we feel? Animals teach us to make our move, and move on…unencumbered, unaffected by the encounter. Animal dream meanings might be a good sign that’s it’s time to quit justifying your actions. Maybe it’s time to quit questioning what everybody else thinks. Rather – consider why you stood up for yourself. Was it for honest reasons? For survival? For protection? For nobility? If you’re action was pure – then quit questioning it!

Another thing about animal dream meanings deals with freedom, will, independence and instinct. These are all driving qualities both animals and humans are born with. When animals encroach upon your nighttime slumber – consider your views about freedom. Are you free? Do you want to be free? How do you feel about freedom? Same with will and instinct. Do you follow your instinct? Is your natural will (for freedom, survival, success, whatever) helping or hurting?

Can you sense, animal dream meanings are big mojo? You betcha!  Be honored to be visited by our animal kin. It is a reminder of the prime core of your essence. Animals are purer in motivation, and infinitely more connected to Nature than we are. That is not a slam to humanity. It’s just as an observation of the clarity and oneness of purpose animals have. 

Questions Animals May Ask of Us in Dreams

♦  Are we pure of heart?

♦  Can we get back to our roots?

♦  Can we live in the present moment?

♦  What are we willing to do for society?

♦  How can we accept our surroundings?

♦  Are we able to recognize our resources?

♦  Can we let go, and roll with our situations?

♦  Where do we rank in society, community, family?

♦  How can we adapt to our environment for our survival?

♦  Can we be patient, and trust Nature will meet our needs?

♦  Where or how can we position ourselves for our best advantage?

♦  Can we suspend questions long enough to move with the rhythm of Nature?

That’s a lot of stuff to consider, isn’t it? You know, for as simple and pure animals are – they sure do invoke a lot of diversified concepts and lessons of the heart, don’t they? I think they love that. I think they relish making us trip out. I think that’s why they visit us in dreams.

Have no doubt, my friends…Animals might be simplistic in that they don’t mentally conceive the way a human mind does. But that doesn’t mean they don’t conceive. I think on an energetic level, animals connect with the human mind and heart. I think that’s why they connect with us in both sleeping and awakening moments of our lives.

All that to say….animals are magic. And when we dream of them, we are bountifully blessed to connect, communicate and consider their presence in our slumber-realms. Dreaming is extraordinarily intimate. It is a place of softness, vulnerability, infinite potential. So, to dream of an animal means we have remarkable magic at our fingertips.

The only trick is to heed the wisdom. Pay attention to the animal dream meanings. Ask yourself…”What does this mean?“, “What does this mean to me, in context with my current conditions?”

I’ve gotten so jazzed writing this article, it motivates me to write another one. This is just an overarching address to animal dream meanings. There are other elements we can cue into about animals moving in our nighttime space. Namely, the classifications of animals about which we’re dreaming. Huh? Yeah. There are distinct classifications of animals in the symbolic realm. Each classification offers different meaning. Here’s a hint, we’re dealing with the elements: Fire, Earth, Air, Water. Every animal falls into one of these categories. Some of them bleed into two or three of them!

To be sure, if we can identify the category, we are bound to garner more insight. At least, that’s been my experience while helping folks with their animal dream meanings. Example: Let’s say someone is completely baffled as to why they are dreaming about a turtle. The turtle means absolutely nothing to this person. Bupkis, zilch, nada. No connection, no experience, no draw. Okay. No problem. That’s where we get into the elemental category of the turtle. As in: Where does the turtle live? Water. What does water symbolize? Get my drift? Each element affords us huge insight into an environment – and by association, THE animal we’re dreaming about.

Oy! I intended this to be just a little ditty about animal dream meanings. What was meant to be a few 500 words has grown into 1600. My bad. I guess I just caught up in the potential of animal messengers in our sleep. There’s so much potential and profound learning animals offer in the ethereal realms. And when they come in dreams…whoa…that’s a powerfully potent connection.

Thanks for indulging my (admittedly) long-winded foray into animal dream meanings. I hope through all this you were able to grab an insight or two. As always, thanks for reading. I wish for you all the best beastie dreams and animal connections. Brightly, Avia

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