Actions — Dream Symbol Database

52 entries in this section.

Flying
Flying is read as elevation with agency — rising, and being the one doing it.
Falling
Falling is read as a loss of hold — descent happening to you rather than chosen.
Running
Running is read as directed effort — speed applied on purpose, with a destination implied.
Chasing
Chasing is read as pursuit with intent — you are the one closing distance.
Being Chased
Being chased is read as pressure with a direction — something behind you that you are managing rather than facing.
Hiding
Hiding is read as deliberate removal — you are present but not available.
Searching
Searching is read as directed looking — you know something is missing and you know roughly where.
Jumping
Jumping is read as a committed single movement — a gap crossed in one action rather than by a route.
Climbing
Climbing is read as progress by effort — ascent that costs something and is done in stages.
Swimming
Swimming is read as moving through something that does not support you — progress made by continuous effort.
Drowning
Drowning is read as being overcome by something that surrounds rather than confronts you.
Walking
Walking is read as ordinary progress — movement at a sustainable pace, on ground.
Driving
Driving is read as being in control of direction and speed — the modern form of holding the reins.
Eating
Eating is read as taking something in — incorporation, and therefore also assimilation.
Drinking
Drinking is read as taking in what you need — the image of a requirement being met.
Cooking
Cooking is read as preparing a change — applying heat deliberately to produce a result.
Singing
Singing is read as expression made audible — something internal given a form others could hear.
Dancing
Dancing is read as coordinated movement — action that follows a rhythm set by something outside you.
Writing
Writing is read as fixing something into a form that lasts — the act of making a commitment legible.
Reading
Reading is read as receiving what has been fixed — taking in something already set down.
Speaking
Speaking is read as address — expression aimed at somebody in particular.
Shouting
Shouting is read as address raised past its effective volume — urgency added to something already being said.
Crying
Crying is read as release of something held — Water discharging, and therefore relieving.
Laughing
Laughing is read as release upward and outward — Fire's version of discharge.
Waking Up
Waking inside a dream is read as a transition that does not complete — an ending that produces another setting instead of an end.
Dying
Dying in a dream is read as an ending of a form — a conclusion, and in the traditional sources usually of a phase rather than of a life.
Birth
Birth is read as something new arriving — Wood's beginning, read as a start rather than as an event.
Marriage
Marriage is read as a joining made formal — two things bound with witnesses and a stated structure.
Funeral
A funeral is read as a formal ending — a conclusion conducted publicly and with procedure.
Washing
Washing is read as removal by intent — something being taken off deliberately rather than wearing away.
Bathing
Bathing is read as immersion for renewal — the whole person rather than one object.
Cutting Hair
Cutting hair is read as a deliberate removal of something that grows — a change made to what would otherwise continue.
Dressing
Dressing is read as preparing a presentation — putting on the layer that others will read.
Losing Things
Losing something is read as a separation you did not choose — the thing still exists, but not where you can reach it.
Being Lost
Being lost is read as movement without orientation — you are going, but the route has stopped corresponding to anything.
Waiting
Waiting is read as a pause held by something outside you — duration imposed rather than chosen.
Arriving Late
Arriving late is read as a timing failure rather than a direction failure — the route was right.
Packing
Packing is read as preparing to move — selection made in advance of a departure.
Moving House
Moving house is read as a change of setting — the container of a life being exchanged for another.
Digging
Digging is read as deliberate search below the surface — effort applied to what is not visible.
Planting
Planting is read as committing to a result you will not see immediately — Wood's act of starting something.
Harvesting
Harvesting is read as collecting what a process has produced — Metal's cutting applied to a result.
Fishing
Fishing is read as drawing something up from what you cannot see — retrieval from beneath a surface.
Hunting
Hunting is read as pursuit with a purpose — directed effort toward something that is trying not to be found.
Fighting
Fighting is read as opposition made physical — a conflict that has stopped being discussed.
Arguing
Arguing is read as opposition still in language — a conflict that has not yet become action.
Hugging
Hugging is read as enclosure shared — two people inside one boundary.
Shaking Hands
Shaking hands is read as an agreement made formally — a contract in miniature.
Waving Goodbye
Waving goodbye is read as a departure acknowledged — an ending conducted with recognition on both sides.
Leaving
Leaving is read as a separation you initiated — the departure is yours, whatever the reason.
Counting
Counting is read as measurement applied — an attempt to make something exact.
Floating
Floating is read as being supported without effort — held up by something you are not working with.