Dream Figure
Category: Dream Interpretation
Three Layers for Reading Dream Figures
On how to read a dream figure, that is, the person or presence who appears in a dream, Jungian dream analysis draws a distinction between the objective level and the subjective level. The objective level reads the figure in the dream as that person themselves. If your manager turns up in a dream, you think about your actual relationship with that manager. The subjective level reads the figure as a part of the dreamer. With the manager, that means treating the figure as an image of the authoritative part within you, or of your own power to keep things in order.
Our site adds one more layer here, an archetypal one. This layer takes the figure as an image widely shared across humanity, so a manager may have the image of the father, or of the wise old man, laid over him. This arrangement into three layers is not Jungian theory as such, but our own reading, borrowed from that framework. Which layer to read from depends on the context of the dream, and rather than pinning yourself to one, keeping several side by side gives you more to work with.
Unknown Figures and the Shadow
Unknown figures turn up in dreams often. Within the framework of Jungian psychology, an unknown figure of the same sex is read as the shadow, the image that reflects a side you would rather not admit to, or have not yet noticed. To an unknown figure of the opposite sex, the anima (the feminine side within a man) or the animus (the masculine side within a woman) is sometimes assigned.
What really works when you read is the feeling you had toward that figure. Fear, attraction, disgust, familiarity. Which feeling moved can be read as the attitude you hold toward a side that has not yet become your own. If similar unknown figures keep coming back, taking that as a sign that the theme has not been settled yet makes it easier to handle.
When the Deceased Appear in a Dream
The appearance of someone who has died has been given special meaning in many cultures. In the period just after losing someone close, people speak of dreams in which the person appears as though still alive, so that waking up means feeling the loss all over again. As time passes, the form can shift toward the person appearing as an adviser or as someone watching over you. That can be read as a sign that the process of taking the person's values and words into yourself has moved forward.
In the traditions of dream divination, dreams of the dead are read as messages or warnings. On this site we read them as scenes in which your relationship with the person is being rebuilt inside you. If the dream carries a calm atmosphere, you can lean the reading toward that rebuilding having moved along. That said, when grief lasts a long time and you feel unable to get daily life back on its feet, do not try to settle it with a reading of your dreams; talk it over with a professional.
Crowds and Faceless Figures
Dreams with large numbers of people or with crowds tend to reflect a social scene rather than your particular circumstances. Being chased by a crowd can be pressure from those around you, or the strain of having to fall in with everyone else. Standing isolated within a crowd can be the feeling of belonging nowhere. Both are readings that come up often.
Figures whose faces are blurred, or that swap one after another, also show up. These can be read as handling not one particular person but human relationships themselves, or your involvement with society as a theme. Dream interpretation takes the mood of the crowd as a clue: friendly or hostile, order still holding or everything in confusion. A friendly crowd leans toward the sense of being supported, a hostile crowd toward unease about your place among others and the fear of being pushed outside.
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