If I had a diamond for every time a dreamer has asked me about the meaning of water dreams, I would have a diamond mine. Let's take a look at some of the possible variations and interpretations of water dreams.

VARIATIONS:

The image of water is a perfect example of why old-fashioned dream symbolism with fixed meanings for particular images is a waste of time. Just think of different ways that water can appear in a dream. You might be in a beautiful bath, drowning in a violent sea, saving a child from a polluted stream, you might be drinking from a romantic Hawaiian waterfall or sailing in the San Francisco bay. The water could be pleasurable or frightening, romantic or sexy and it could take forms such as tidal waves or rain or snow. You might water ski or swim with dolphins, play with sea otters or look down the throat of a humongous white shark. You could be washing clothes or dishes in fresh soapy water or maybe even cold greasy water.

Obviously water can mean an untold number of things depending on the dream and how the dreamer feels about it and of course depending entirely upon who the dreamer is and how the dreamer chooses to use water as a symbol to express something important to her.

For psychoanalysts the water might represent the womb and a desire to return to the mother or to have intercourse with her. Jungians are fond of interpreting water as the unconscious with all of its frightening and rewarding, but mysterious contents. Others interpret water as the spirit.

I think often water is used in a dream to provide one with the sensation of floating or a fear of drowning or of being overwhelmed. At other times one might dream of the joyous experience of floating, swimming, feeling exhilarated, feeling taken care of or magically enveloped. I don't think one has the slightest hope of understanding water imagery before describing the particular sort of water in your dream and your relation to it. If you do this carefully you will know why you dreamt of it. Sometimes water represents emotions, from stormy ones to placid ones to deep, meaningful ones.

SAMPLE DREAMS worked out by some of my students:

Roger dreamt:
I was white water rafting with a group of friends. The water was relatively calm and then it started to pick up. Things started to get out of control, it got very rocky. The waters were going very fast and I fell out of the raft into the water. I was losing consciousness. The water was very cold, I may have hit my head, and I wasn't sure that I would come back up again.

I asked Roger to describe the action in his dream and he said, "the most striking part of it was that everything seemed so calm and in control at first. Then the natural course of the river simply started to speed things up. I lost control and was afraid I would go under and die."

I asked Roger if these feelings reminded him of any situation in his life and he responded that, yes, indeed, this is how he feels when he gets near drugs again and that in fact the people in the boat were friends he used to do drugs with. Currently he was off drugs and felt very in control. But, in the last week he had started seeing some of these former drug friends again even though he wasn't using. Roger understood his dream to be pointing out to him how easy it would be to lose control, to fall back into his old habits and perhaps lose his life to his habit.

WATER RAFTING

Barbara dreamt:
I was in what felt like an Esther Williams production number. It was a huge swimming pool with fountains in it. I was wearing a beautiful bathing suit. There were lights, there was music. I was standing at the end of the pool and there was a large audience at the other end. I knew that my role was to dive into the pool with a beautiful swan dive and then join the others in a water ballet. I was very surprised in the dream that I wasn't anxious, in fact I felt extraordinarily confident. I couldn't believe it, I felt a little anxiety, but just the slightest bit. I dove into the pool and it felt so wonderful. I felt like I had arrived somehow.

I asked Barbara, "Who is Esther Williams and what is she like?" "Esther Williams is a star from the forties who is elegant and very strong. She wasn't just a pretty star; she could swim. She had elegance, grace and enormous strength. I admired her for this combination of qualities," she responded. I asked her if there were anyone in her life or any part of herself that was like Esther Williams. She laughed and told me that it took her forty two years to come to a place in her life where she felt secure in her own sexuality and her own strength. Previously she had always felt that she had to choose to be either the pretty woman or the strong woman and that now she felt rather like Esther Williams. It was a very happy dream for her.

YOUR DREAMS

Now if you would like to figure out what YOUR dream about water means, try asking yourself these questions as if your imaginary interviewer comes from another planet and has no preconceived notions about your dream images.

WHAT DO YOU SAY?

1. Describe the water in your dream.
2. Describe the action around the water in your dream. (Are you swimming, washing, water skiing, watching a drowning?)
3. How do you feel in the dream? Be specific and describe your feeling with three or more adjectives.
4. If there are any people in your dream, interview yourself about each of them using the people questions in the people section of this book.
5. If there are any major objects in the dream (boats, skis, buoys, bridges etc.) interview yourself using the object questions in the Objects section of this book.
6. So, is there anywhere in your life where you feel the way you do in the dream?
7. How does the dream action present a parable about a situation or a feeling in your current life?
8. How does the dream help you better understand this situation?

To explore other common dream themes in your dreams see my book, In Your Dreams: Falling, Flying & Other Dream Themes, from which this excerpt is taken.