Theresa Cheung - The Element Encyclopedia of 20,000 Dreams - The Ultimate A–Z to Interpret the Secrets of Your Dreams

If you are watching an operain your dream, this suggests that you need to observe the drama taking part around you in waking life. If you are taking part in an opera, but not singing, this suggests that you need to inject more drama into your waking life. If you are singing in the opera, you are beginning to express your emotions more fully in everyday situations. If you hear singingin your dream, this suggests that you are, or need to be, in touch with your emotions and creativity. Singing is a way of raising your vibration to a higher level, emotionally and spiritually. If you are singing, this is a pure expression of joy and love of life. If you are singing alone, you have learned to enjoy your own company. If you are singing in a choir, you are able to express yourself well in a group.

To be looking at paintings or paintingin a dream suggests that you are paying attention to new ideas, and making changes in the way you think and feel. It may also refer to the need to take note of the details of a certain situation in your life. Painting has a lot to do with self-expression, and what you are painting and the colors you are using are important. If you are painting a miniature, perhaps you need to concentrate on small details. If you are painting a nature scene,perhaps you need to spend more time in the fresh air. If you are painting larger pictures, perhaps you need to see the larger picture. The actual image that you are painting in your dream may symbolize the way that you are visualizing your current situation in your waking life. If you are painting as in decorating, this could suggest making changes in the way you feel about yourself. It could also represent changes in your appearance or lifestyle. See also COLORS; PLACES.

Photosin dreams represent some aspect of yourself that you need to be looking at, perhaps your younger self, or a part of yourself that you have grown out of but need to understand. If you are developing photos, this suggests discovering hidden talents or abilities. If you are looking at family photos or an album, this refers to an appreciation of past influences in your life. If the photo is of yourself, this suggests you need to take an objective look at yourself, especially if you are given the photo in your dream. You need to stand back and see clearly. If the photo is of someone you know, perhaps you need to look at that person’s qualities and make use of those qualities yourself. If the photos in your dreams come to life, this indicates your continuing involvement in what the picture depicts, or that the past as a whole is still influencing you.

If you are taking a photograph, this suggests that you need to remember or take notice of something. If you are using a camerain your dreams, this might suggest that you need to remember what is important in your life and perhaps take more notice of certain situations or people. You may have noticed something out of the ‘corner of your eye’, but not yet have processed it into waking consciousness. If you are being filmed or having your picture taken, you need to take a careful look at your thoughts and responses to certain situations.

Picturesin dreams often represent situations in our lives, or a view we may have about something. The subject matter will suggest what we should be looking at in our lives. The condition of the picture will be significant, as will the colors ( see COLORS). If a drawing fails to appear, a video refuses to focus or a photo refuses to develop properly, there may be something wrong with your own vision of an important part of your life. Are you seeing things clearly?

Typically, playsin dreams are images of yourself and your life projected by your unconscious. They represent an aspect of your past or your character that you are repressing in waking life or, depending on the play, particular moods or feelings. Alternatively, such dreams can suggest a desire to escape from the pressures of everyday life. If the play is a tragedy, is the routine and repetition of your life restricting your creativity? If the play is a comedy, do you need to lighten up a little in waking life? If what you are watching is a pantomime, has the time come to stop fooling about and get serious about something or someone in waking life?

To be on stagein your dream suggests a desire to become more visible. If the stage is open air, this suggests communication with a large audience, not just a selected few. If the stage is moving, this indicates your desire to keep moving, even when acting a role. Carl Jung once wrote, ‘The whole dream-work is essentially subjective, and a dream is a theatre in which the dreamer is himself the scene, the player, the prompter, the producer, the author, the public, and the critic.’ In other words, dreams are themselves like a theatre in which your problems, hopes and fears are acted out by characters generated by your imagination. To dream of a theatreis therefore like a dream within a dream. If you dream of watching or acting a play, pantomime or circus, consider what aspects of your personality each character represents. Do these characters raise the curtain on some of your most poignant questions and experiences in life? This dream is showing you your life, the way you behave and the way you present yourself to others from a new perspective. The scenes being played out are typically ones that are being played out at present; they are experimenting or exploring an idea, relationship or situation. For example, if you watched members of your family or a group of friends performing a play, your unconscious may be telling you that in waking life they may be deceiving you in some way or not revealing their true feelings. If the stage was empty, your unconscious may be referring to the lack of creativity in your waking life and the need for more color, variety and stimulation. A curious superstition claims that if you dream you cut new teeth, it is a sign that you will hear of the birth of a child who will do great things in theatre.

Idioms: set the stage for; stage fright; stage-manage; act a part; act on; catch somebody in the act; get in on the act; get one’s act together; act one’s age; play a role.

To see a ventriloquistin your dream symbolizes some sort of deception in your waking life that is affecting you in a negative way. If you are the ventriloquist, there is a part of yourself that you are not revealing in waking life.

If writingfigures in dreams, this is an attempt to communicate information when spoken words are inadequate. Your dream may be reflecting your true thoughts and feelings. If you are writing down names and addressesin your dream, this may be a reminder to remember your friends and take note of your enemies. It also suggests a need to reflect on something, or sort out your ideas and decisions. Perhaps the instrument with which you are writing is significant. For example, to write with a pencil or chalkwould suggest the information is less permanent than were you to write with a pen or fountain pen, and a typewriter or word processorwould suggest that the information is connected to business, rather than personal, issues. Writing a novelor writing in general can also suggest a desire to leave your mark on the world in some way. If the writing is by someone you know, this refers to their influence over your life and thought processes in waking life. If you are writing to someone you know, he or she may represent the nature of the issues you are trying to express. If you dream of someone else writing, this can show an aspect of yourself that is seeking to express itself.