Dreams of Warning

A very valuable aspect of dream interpretation is the potential for preventing a disaster, or at least minimizing the impact if it can’t be prevented. I showed this in the post on dreams about our physical health. Dreams can come in many different forms because the subconscious has a rich array of memories and associations from which it can build a message or story. Sometimes the dream is a very clear warning without a need for interpretation, and other times an interpretation is required.

 

Let’s consider some examples. When I moved to Florida after retirement, I looked for a condo that was close to my son’s location. I wasn’t yet sure I wanted Florida to be my permanent residence, so I thought I would buy a small unit that could just be a winter home. I found a place and made an offer. That night I had a dream in which a man said, “You bought the wrong place.” After further investigation, I saw some problems with the property and withdrew my offer. A few weeks later I found a place that was the right one. I have lived in it ever since and don’t regret the decision.

 

The warning I received was very clear and required no interpretation. Another time many years ago when my son was a young child, I had the following dream. The telephone rang, I answered it, and a voice said, “Your son is in trouble.” This telephone dream is rare, but when a dream like this occurs, it is often literal. I did some checking and discovered that a larger older kid was bullying my son in a pre-school where he was enrolled.

 

Another time I invested some money in the stock market that was a speculative purchase. One night I had a dream in which a voice from the background of the stock market depicted as Las Vegas said, “Get out now.” I did not heed the advice and suffered a loss.

 

Warnings are not always as clear cut. I owned a condo in Dayton, Ohio, when I moved to Florida. I rented it for a few years before deciding to sell it. When I sold it, I remember the day of closing. It was a Friday, and I was in Florida because I did not have to be physically present for the closing. While shopping at Publix, I felt confident that within a few hours the sale would close. It was a straightforward sale with no special conditions.

 

In the back of my mind, I had some uneasiness about a dream from the previous night. I dreamed about water leaking from a wall and chaos resulting. At the time, I did not think it related to my condo in Dayton.

 

My mobile phone rang and the realtor managing the sale for me informed me that water was leaking from inside a wall onto the unit below mine. She tried to get a plumber, but she couldn’t until the following Monday. A chaotic period followed with contract amendments sent to me via email to get all the necessary signatures on amended agreements to manage the water issue so the closing could move ahead.

 

For my final example, I refer to a dream I had early in my work career and not long after I began a study of my dreams. I dreamed that a tornado hit the main building of the company where I worked, and a smaller tornado hit the satellite building in which I was located. I knew enough about dreams to be concerned that something bad might happen, but conditions at the company seemed good and I had no concerns about my job.

 

Within a few weeks, the company reported losing a major contract and announced layoffs. The cuts in employment were deep in the main building, and moderate in the building where I worked. My job was not affected by the layoffs. The dream was purely symbolic where the destructive power of a tornado was used to stand for another destructive event unrelated to weather.

 

Storms are often used in dreams as symbols of destructive influences. The actual “storms” may be medical, psychological, job related, economic, or something else entirely. If you live in Florida like I do, and it is hurricane season, the dream may be literal. But if you are far away from where hurricanes can strike, look for something else as the meaning of the dream. Again, your dreams are about you: your thoughts and beliefs, your environment, and your associations. You must come to know yourself; you must become aware of the life you live. No one else can do it for you.

 

I offer some advice here. Do not be afraid to make mistakes in your interpretations. With the study of your dreams, you are becoming familiar with the workings of your subconscious. Each mistake helps guide you to a better understanding of your dreams. If you don’t make mistakes, you probably aren’t interpreting many dreams.

 

As an example, let’s examine the dream I posted on 9/19/2023 that I categorized as a warning dream. The dream is clearly a collapse about something. But equally obvious, it is most likely not a dream about football. The question becomes one of figuring out what the football team and cheerleaders stand for. Since this dream does not seem to relate to my personal life, I asked the following: What does it relate to? On a national level, we are currently seeing some threats of collapse in a few areas. The Republican party seems close to collapse in trying to reach agreement on a budget that will keep our government open. And of course, we have the threat of a government shutdown. However, I have trouble relating this to the dream because of the cheerleaders.

 

Next, we have the UAW strike. The workers have helped make the car makers very profitable the past few years, and a collapse in talks and huge losses for car makers could affect everyone, including those on strike. They would not recover what they believed they were owed because of their investment of time and effort. Still, the connections to the dream seem tenuous.

 

Some members of congress are opposing further aid to Ukraine. If the US were to cut off further aid, the effect could be disastrous. Would this be enough to cause Ukraine to collapse. I don’t know. The cheerleaders in the dream could be the countries who have supported Ukraine with large investments in military and humanitarian aid. In the dream, the cheer leaders what to know how to get their money back. I tell them they cannot, which of course would be the case if Ukraine loses.

 

Finally, I consider a collapse in financial markets. The team (US stock market) has been a winner; the stock market has certainly been the place to be invested. The cheerleaders would be the investors who have cheered the market on by making investments of their hard-earned dollars. If the stock market collapsed, they would lose those investments and might not get their money back. History has shown that markets recover in time, but they might have a long wait depending on the cause of the collapse. Now I think you can see that it is not obvious that this is the correct interpretation. But given some other dreams that appear related to a huge market downturn and the precarious political situation in this country, along with the war in Ukraine, I think a stock market collapse is a definite possibility.

 

This dream is the kind of dream that will only be clear in time when the event occurs. But I consider it a warning dream because it might show a financial collapse that would affect every American. If the collapse does not happen, I am no worse off. I have just shown added caution until the political situation is clarified, and Ukraine’s outcome is decided. Of course, climate change is a great unknown factor. At any time, this could take precedence over everything else.