Many years ago I was going through a difficult time and decided I might benefit by meeting with a therapist. It was during our work together that I became familiar with Carl Jung’s dream theories, and my work with the therapist included working with my dreams. Prior to that I had not thought very much about my dreams. I might have noticed if a dream was unusual, but I never thought of dreams as have meaning or a purpose. I also didn’t remember having dreams very often. Since then I have kept journals where I have recorded my dreams as well as my thoughts about and associations to aspects of my dreams. I have found this to be very helpful and I encourage people to consider doing this.
There are various theories about and approaches to dreams; I believe the Jungian approach is the most valid. Many books have been written by Jungian analysts about dreamwork. An author whose writing I respect is John A. Sanford, who was a Jungian analyst and an Episcopal priest. In addition to being very knowledgeable about Jungian theory and having worked with thousands of dreams in his therapy practice, Sanford, who passed away in 2005, had the gift of being able to express concepts in clear, understandable language. I have read and re-read his books and highly recommend them to you. They include Dreams and Healing, Healing and Wholeness, and Dreams–God’s Forgotten Language.
I don’t want to give the impression a person can learn to understand the meaning of her or his dreams simply by reading a book. But it’s a starting point. Working with a capable therapist and/or participating in a dream group facilitated by a capable therapist would be very helpful. Just as each human being is unique, the dreams he or she receives are unique to him or her. Although there are some dream symbols that tend to have universal meanings, such as the ocean symbolizing the unconscious and a snake symbolizing wisdom, the meanings of images in dreams are often based on the dreamer’s associations to the images, and those associations are based on each person’s life experiences.