Dream Decoding: The Cross
Welcome to another edition of my Dream Decoding series! In today’s column, I interpret a dream submitted by a young woman. The dream was some time ago, as she makes a dated reference in it, but still wants to know what it means.
This is her dream:
Okay, Well I had this dream that I was walking in front of a church and I turned and saw this HUGE cross in front of the church and on one side of the cross Jesus was on the cross the way he had sacrificed himself and on the other side of the cross it was The “old” Pope who had passed away a week before just the way Jesus was so I looked up at the pope and his eyes turned red so I ran off and ran into these nuns and they were yelling this chant at me then I found myself in a puddle of water with the nuns surrounding me and then…I wake up.
Dear Dreamer:
I have to say that I liked your dream a lot. It intrigued me. The first thing about the dream I want to mention is the timing of the dream. Dreams usually reference something going on at the time we have them, so a dream from years ago, while being interpreted correctly now, will still be in reference to what was going on in your life at that time. I encourage dreamers to note the previous day’s experiences to see if a dream is giving you a message about an active situation in life it wants to help you solve.
For me, your dream is about your spirituality. This is because the church is the location of your dream. Being in front of the church indicates the future (what’s ahead of you) in regard to this. When dreams are about our spirituality, they can show us what our spiritual gifts are. In your case, you are a spiritual teacher/leader. This is referenced by Jesus and the Pope. Jesus was called “Rabbi,” which means teacher, and the Pope is a spiritual leader.
The cross being huge suggests this is going to somehow become a larger part of your life. It can also suggest you may need to make a huge sacrifice (you use the words, “he sacrificed himself,” in reference to Jesus). The fact that both of the figures are dead suggests there is some aspect of your spirituality that may need to change (death in dreams represents change).
I can’t help but to wonder if you are Catholic; I ask this because of the Pope and the nuns in your dream; I automatically think of Catholicism. Looking at the cross with these figures on it may be asking you to look at (examine) your views on your religion; something may need to change about it.
Are you still involved with Catholicism, or have you moved away from it? I ask this because you are outside the church in your dream, which may be saying you see yourself as an “outsider.”
Seeing the Pope’s eyes turn red is very interesting. Eyes represent our viewpoint, how we see/perceive/understand things. It reminds me of the pun of “seeing red.” The color red can suggest both anger and passion. So, there is an element of anger involved with this issue.
Running away from something in a dream suggests avoidance. So, this part suggests that you are avoiding becoming a spiritual teacher/leader.
The nuns? The thing that comes to me with the nuns is that they are part of an Order. As such, it could suggest for you that you may become part of a spiritual group of some kind. If the nuns were wearing the traditional black and white outfits, you may have to confront your habit (nuns wear habits) of seeing things as black and white (the black and white of the outfits), which means being an extremist. Religious people tend to see things in absolutes (all black or all white).
In the dream, the nuns are yelling a chant at you. Yelling at you can indicate an effort to get a message through to you, a way to get you to hear and listen to it. It’s a way of saying, “I want to be heard.” A chant is a mantra that is repeated over and over during a spiritual practice, such as meditation.
Putting these two things together: you are being asked to pay attention (listen) to the repeated things you tell yourself (chant) about your spirituality that comes across as being all or nothing (black and white outfits of the nuns). Chances are that this is not the only area of life you do this, but the dream is asking you to start here; what we do in the spiritual has an effect in the physical.
Finding yourself in a puddle of water…a puddle of water isn’t very deep, so I see this as a symbol of overcompensation; it is asking you to “go deeper” in regard to your spirituality, to move beyond the superficial.
You wake up before the dream ends, so you were unable to get the entire message. It’s not complete the way it is. Even with that, there is still a lot of material in the dream to consider and work with, in terms of application to your waking life.
I hope this was helpful to you in some way. I really did enjoy the dream. Thanks for submitting it!
In Closing…
As most of you know, dreams about spirituality are some of my favorite to work with. I just love seeing the spiritual gifts and abilities that are revealed in a dream the dreamer is being asked to work with in this life. I know this is because all of mine have been revealed to me in dreams.
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Peace and light,
