Rebel
(DREAM IMAGES: ANARCHIST, NONCONFORMIST, PIRATE, POLITICAL PROTESTER, REVOLUTIONARY)
The rebel in a support group can be a powerful aid in helping the group break out of old tribal patterns. In dreams, it can also help you see past tired preconceptions in your field of professional or creative endeavor. The rebel can also lead you to reject spiritual systems that do not serve your inner need for direct union with the divine and to seek out more appropriate paths. The shadow rebel, conversely, may compel you to rebel out of peer pressure, or for the sake of fashion, and so become mired in another manifestation of conformity.
Seeker
(DREAM IMAGES: NOMAD, VAGABOND, WANDERER)
This dream archetype refers to the search for wisdom and truth wherever it can be found. The shadow side of the archetype is the ‘lost soul’, someone on an aimless journey, without direction, ungrounded, disconnected from goals and others.
Servant
(DREAM IMAGES: INDENTURED SERVANT, SLAVE)
To dream that you are a slave suggests that you are not taking charge of your own life. Have you become so consumed by the needs of those around you that you have lost all focus on the value of your own life?
Student
(DREAM IMAGES: APPRENTICE, DEVOTEE, DISCIPLE, FOLLOWER, PUPIL)
The student archetype suggests an open mind and the ability to absorb new information as an essential part of one’s well-being. The shadow student usually manifests in learning all the tools of the wrong trade or misusing the knowledge learned. The shadow can also show up as the eternal student who never embarks on the sea of life in earnest, but manages to find ever new reasons to continue being schooled without ever putting that knowledge to the test.
See also SCHOOL, WORK.
Teacher
Teaching is the art of communicating knowledge, experience, skill, and wisdom to another. Teaching, or offering instruction of any kind, can manifest through parental guidance, business apprenticeship, or by inspired instruction in ethics or kindness. If this archetype appears in your dreams, it can suggest that others seek you out for the richness of your experience or that you need to seek out someone or something to teach you the ropes. The shadow teacher manifests as a desire to manipulate or abuse those you are instructing, and to be more concerned with recognition than with imparting knowledge.
Thief
(DREAM IMAGES: BURGLAR, CON ARTIST, PICKPOCKET, ROBIN HOOD, SWINDLER)
Symbolically, theft can take many forms, including plagiarism, stealing ideas and even affection. If the figure of a thief appears in your dreams or you become a thief, it suggests that you may be taking what is not yours because you lack the ability to provide for yourself; you therefore need to learn self-respect. This archetype prods you to learn to generate power from within.
Victim
When we become a victim in our dreams, it can be a tremendous aid in letting us know when we are in danger of letting ourselves be victimized, often through passivity, but also through rash or inappropriate actions. It can also help us to see our own tendency to victimize others for personal gain. In its shadow aspect, the victim shows us that we may like to play the victim at times because of the positive feedback we get in the form of sympathy or pity. Our goal is always to learn how to recognize these inappropriate attitudes in ourselves or others, and to act accordingly.
Warrior
(DREAM IMAGES: AMAZON, CRIME FIGHTER, GUNSLINGER, MERCENARY, SOLDIER OF FORTUNE, SAMURAI, SOLDIER)
The warrior archetype represents loyalty, physical strength and the ability to protect, defend, and fight for one’s rights. To be unbreakable and to fight to the death is a large part of the warrior archetype, which is also associated with the passage from boyhood to manhood. Such dreams appeal to our fantasies of independence, and the power to defend ourselves and right wrongs. The shadow warrior distorts or abandons ethical principles and decency in the name of victory at any cost. The warrior archetype is just as connected to the female psyche as to the male. In today’s society, the warrior woman or Amazon archetype has emerged in its glory once again through women who liberate and protect others, especially women and children who need vocal and financial representation. The concept of the spiritual warrior directs us to use the classic warrior virtues of heroism, stoicism, and self-sacrifice for conquering the ego and gaining control of our inner lives.
ARCHITECT
See WORK.
ARGUE Clear indication that you are feeling conflict about some aspect of your life and that you are perhaps not releasing or expressing these feelings of conflict in your waking life.
ARM
See BODY.
ARMOR If you are dressed in armor in your dream, do you need to protect yourself against something or someone? In donning such heavy attire, you are better protected but you also restrict your movement; perhaps your unconscious is telling you that it might be better to open up about what is troubling you, instead of keeping it a closely guarded secret. If chains feature alongside the armor, this is a symbol of enslavement and unhappiness with your current commitments. If your chains break or are broken, this is a positive sign.
ARREST If you were arrested in your dream or someone else was arrested this suggests the need for some kind of restraint in your waking life or a fear of authority.
ART Dreams of the creativity of artistic endeavor are as common as action and adventure dreams. Whether you dream of composing a symphony, painting a masterpiece, writing a best-selling novel, singing in an opera or designing a scrapbook, such dreams with yourself in the artist’s role represent the creative or intuitive side of your nature. You may feel a need in waking life to express yourself in some way, to be more creative or to enjoy public recognition. If you are meeting an artist in your dreams, this suggests that you are becoming aware of an aspect of yourself that is creative. If, however, you are watching another artist at work, this suggests that you are recognizing artistic or creative ability in yourself but remain passive about it.
Dreaming of creating something will be less significant if you are a naturally creative person than if you are not. If you have never been artistic or worked with crafts, dreaming that you are a potter making a pot – or an author completing a novel – may carry the implication that you should do so, or at least be more imaginative and creative in your waking life.
ARTIST To dream that you are an artist painting a picture is a reference to the creative and intuitive side of your character. The dream alerts you to talents that you may not know you have. It urges you to recognize the artist within, that aspect of yourself that is in contact with the irrational, creative side of your unconscious.
See also ARCHETYPES.
ASHES If you were raking over the ashes in your dream, upon which aspect of your past are you reflecting? Ashes in a dream often indicate penitence and sorrow, and the feeling that there is nothing more than can be, as the ashes or memories are all we have left. The important