Wading: Any image that involves water is connecting to your emotional experience. When you wade through water, you are generally up to waist-high, which is a definite commitment to being wet but still a manageable amount to navigate by virtue of walking. To understand this symbol in a dream, apply this same sensibility to your emotional experience: enough feeling to be considerably felt, but not so much that you can’t continue to walk through the feelings.
Wagon: This very slow and archaic mode of transportation is most associated with the settlement of the United States by virtue of pioneers moving westward. In this way, the wagon is intrinsically bound up with the idea of taking great risks, eschewing the comforts of stability, and moving into new territory. Look to where in your life you are branching out into the unknown.
Waiter: As a person in your dream, the person bringing you your food is a character aspect of your personality. Since a waiter is the direct line of access to sustenance, this person’s symbolic meaning connects to your ability to nurture and provide self-care. Consider the behavior and effects of the waiter in your dream as reflecting your own relationship with how well you are taking care of your needs.
Waiting Room: The implication of a waiting room is that something important is about to happen. If your dream takes place in such an environment, look to where in your life you may be anticipating an event or a change in direction. If you know what you are waiting for in your dream, add that to your interpretation.
Wake: A significant part of the grieving ritual in many traditions, a wake is where we gather around the body of someone who has just passed in order to pay our respects and mark the beginning of the process of letting go. In this way, a wake in a dream signifies that something has been sacrificed that will undoubtedly need to be processed in some way, and you are put on notice that a cycle of change is just around the corner.
Wall: Walls are boundaries that turn what would otherwise be an open space into something specific and functional. By compartmentalizing thoughts and ideas in our minds, we are able to manage our thoughts and feelings more effectively, and walls are symbolic of the structure that allows us to function in this way. The walls in your dreams represent this ability; the condition of these walls is to be interpreted as either helping this process or an indication that this process is being challenged.
Wallet: A wallet is a container for your money and identification. This makes it a symbol for your easy access to prosperity and self-awareness. If you have lost your wallet or it has been stolen in a dream, you are feeling separated from your ability to feel abundant and confident in who you are. If the wallet in your dreams belongs to someone else, you may need to examine new ways of connecting to prosperity and identity.
Wallpaper: Wallpaper is a covering that makes a room more pleasing in an aesthetic way, but as a symbol it is more connected to that which it is covering up. If there is wallpaper featured in your dream, take a look at what you are hiding or wanting to be kept out of view in your life.
Wand: The primary tool for the wizard or witch, the wand is a focal point for the energy to manifest your heart’s desire. Connected to the principles of alchemy, the wand is a symbol for your ability to make radical changes in your life and to exert control over things that may not be controllable. An instrument of the wizard, the wand is the tool that allows this magical archetype to wield his or her power. The presence of Harry Potter in the zeitgeist has normalized this image as something accessible to all individuals. A wand in a dream is asking you to consider your own power to create anything you desire.
War: War in a dream indicates that shifting boundaries are causing enormous upheaval. The object of war is for one entity to obtain the land and/or resources of another. Therefore, war in a dream indicates change on such a large scale that it can only be accomplished by the use of major force. Our world is a set of organized boundaries that we know as countries. Our psyches are divided in a similar way. These boundaries are, ultimately, fluid. Things change—sometimes dramatically—which leaves us feeling vulnerable. When the change is sudden and violent, the unconscious may use a dream of war to express the enormity of the internal shift that’s occurring.
Warehouse: You have some unfinished business or may be trying to postpone something. You also may be preparing to take action on something soon, but it is not yet time. Warehouses are places where we gather and store items that will later be distributed for their intended use. What is key to this symbol is that the storage is temporary—what is kept in a warehouse is eventually going to be moved somewhere else. In a dream, a warehouse is a symbol of change. In the arc of any transformation, a warehouse points to the middle of a greater shift—a point at which resources are gathered but have not quite yet arrived at their final destination.
Warts: Warts are unsightly growths that are created by a virus. They have long been associated with witches in fairy tales as evidence of their evil or bad intentions. If you have a wart or warts in your dream, you may be seeing the visible results of resentments and anger issues that have been previously hidden.
Washing: When some type of washing occurs in a dream, you are cleansing or clearing out something that no longer serves you. The primary symbolic meaning for any kind of bathing connects to this desire to be clean and available for social interaction with others. This can connect to unconscious feelings of dirtiness that are both literal and metaphorical. There may be ways in which you are feeling unclean and in need of purification. Anything that involves water in a dream is going to connect somehow to issues of emotions. Using water to bathe might point to a need or desire to immerse yourself in the realm of your feelings in order to cleanse yourself of the pain that life sometimes brings.
Washing Machine: As a function of routine, clothes are kept clean in this mechanism. In this way, a washing machine is a symbol of this impulse to keep elements of your life at a certain level of condition. You may be expressing a need to clear off thoughts or feelings that are unwanted.
Wasp: Like bees and ants, wasps have an overall totem energy that connects with community regulation and interdependent structure. Wasps are predators by nature, and lower forms of insects are their prey. Therefore, in the higher order of things, wasps regulate the population of the insect world by virtue of their predation instincts. If you are dreaming of wasps, you are looking to tap into your instinctive ability to manage large structures of thought and imagination. Consider that a wasp dream may indicate that this instinct is overworking itself and that you are being called to relinquish an obsessive need to control things that are really beyond your ability to control.
Watch: While this is soon becoming an archaic object in the realm of keeping time, the watch is a symbol of measurement and staying connected to the rhythm of life. More importantly, any mechanism of keeping time is about connecting with the world in agreement so that things can unfold simultaneously. If there is a watch in your dream, you may need to be more connected to the movement of your life and schedule and how that relates to the pace that other people are operating at.
Water: Water is the ultimate symbol of emotions in a dream. It also connects to things that rise up out of the unconscious mind. In fact, it could be said that emotions themselves are evidence of something that is occurring in the unconscious mind. In this way, water connects to both emotions and the unconscious. Human beings are made up of a great deal of water, and the welling up of feelings can cause this precious liquid to leak inexplicably out of your eyes in the form of tears. In this way, the presence of any water in a dream is asking you to consider the emotional side of your nature. The larger the body of water, the more feelings the dream is expressing. If the water is potentially overwhelming or dangerous, as in a tidal wave or waterfall, then the sense of danger must be added to your interpretation, as we are often afraid of feelings when they are greater than we think we can handle. Feelings flow and so does water, so the quality of movement of the water in your dream is pointing out the way in which you are experiencing your emotions. A slow creek is like a small amount of emotional flow that is significant but sustaining and calming. A raging river is more like the force of feelings that are much more intense and, if not navigated well, can be dangerous to your sense of well-being. Rain is the most like tears, and weather patterns in dreams that involve water may be pointing out the way you are experiencing or avoiding the easy flow of emotions associated with some current life experience.
Water Heater: Any image that relates to water is about your emotional experience. Hot water implies the addition of anger or other passionate sensibilities. Keep in mind that a water heater has the function of providing comfort and sanitization to your life. A healthy relationship to your emotional expression does the same. Look to how well you are connected to fluctuations in your emotional expression of water-heater features in your dream.
Waves: Energy moves in waves, and any dream that features this motion is connected to the fundamental structure behind all movement. Waves in water are about emotional fluctuations. Waves that are more related to the physical laws of the universe are similar, but are more about thoughts and shifts of intellect. When waves are easy to navigate, all is well, as you can easily allow yourself to move with them. However, they can suddenly become overwhelming in the dream world, and if this occurs, you are examining your relationship to things beyond your ability to control.
Web Cam: This relatively new invention allows more direct connectivity in the world through the Internet. As this way of connection expands through technology, it creates a new level of consciousness. The web cam is the new “eyes” of this consciousness. How are you allowing yourself to be seen in this new world that is being created? What is it that you wish to explore in others? These are the questions that a dream that features a web cam is asking you.
Wedding: A wedding is the ceremonial joining of two aspects of character in a commitment to work together in order to create a new way of being in the world that the relationship represents. The ritual of a wedding is the declaration of your intention to have a significant shift of perspective. If your life is calling forth a transformation, a dream about a wedding is significant evidence that the change is at hand.
Weeds: Your random thoughts of worry, doubt, and anxiety may be crowding out your ability to feel joy. Weeds are the unwanted plants that disrupt our sense of harmony created by the lovely flowers or vegetables we would rather have growing in our gardens. If allowed to, weeds would overtake what we are cultivating and strangle the life out of what we have chosen to plant. In a dream, weeds represent these ubiquitous thoughts, habits, and patterns.
Weights: Weights are used to counterbalance the muscles in the body in order to help them expand and grow. Weights connect to the principle that controlled effort is a part of the idea of change. If weights appear in your dream, you desire to increase and expand certain aspects of your identity and are willing to make the effort to create that change. Such a dream may also point to resistance to the work associated with facing change. Look to the context of the dream to illuminate which sensibility is being expressed.
Well: The availability of emotional sustenance from deep places is what this dream is expressing. Anytime water is featured in a dream, what is being expressed is the state of your emotional life. Water is the necessary ingredient to sustaining life. A well is dug to provide consistent access to this lifegiving elixir. In the symbolic world, there is a correlation between water as emotion and water as life-sustaining substance. We need water to live, and our souls need emotional balance to thrive. A well is often a community resource, so the state of the well in your dream may be revealing your current life’s relationship to your own feelings and how much you may have to give to others. If your well is running dry, you may need to consider your own needs first. If it is overflowing, take a look at how your emotional life may be more than you can contain.
Welts: A welt is evidence of wrongs done, the aftermath of attack, or an underlying problem that is now beginning to become noticeable. Your interpretation will vary depending on the part of the body that is affected. The arms relate to strength and action, and the legs connect to movement and motivation. The hands represent creativity, and the face connects to the persona you show to the world. Additionally, consider that a welt on an exposed part of the body means your wound is visible to others. An area that is generally covered by clothing may connect to the ability or desire to hide your wounds.
Werewolf: The beast lives within all human beings, but when bit by the werewolf, the beast unleashes the shadow in relationship to the cycle of the moon. The moon represents all that is unconscious, and when it is full, we are able to see more of what is usually hidden. The werewolf is one of the most powerful symbols of the dark parts of human nature that must be faced when looking at the unknown.
Whale: To understand the symbolic meaning of this majestic animal, consider its habitat. The ocean represents our deep unconscious mind, and the whale is the animal that breathes air, but can dive to the depths and explore what is under the surface. In this way, the whale is a powerful representation of our ability to connect to emotions and currents that run very deep and are typically hidden from our conscious awareness. When a whale appears in your dreams, the medicine that is present is this ability to dive below the surface to gain great wisdom.
Whale Song: You are being called to dive deep and explore emotions and patterns that are hidden just below the surface of your consciousness. (See Whale.)
Wheel: The circle is the most pure and perfect shape in geometry. The functionality of the wheel is thought to have changed civilization more dramatically than any other invention. Through the wheel, travel and connectivity are increased exponentially. In this way, a wheel is the fundamental structure that allows powerful movement through life. The state of a wheel in a dream is a reflection of how well you are able to progress on the path of creating what you desire.
Wheelchair: The wheelchair eradicates a level of disability by providing movement where movement is challenged. In this way, it is a symbol of triumph over adversity. Additionally, a wheelchair may appear in a dream when you feel a need or desire to continue moving through your life while expending less effort.
Whirlpool: Any image involving water relates to an experience of your emotions. In the case of a whirlpool, the implication is that there is a circling back over some focused point again and again until the momentum created pulls you down to your ultimate demise. This is what happens when you perseverate over some challenge that is causing an emotional reaction as a persistent thought or feeling. The whirlpool in your dream is asking you to consider what you can’t let go of.
Whisper: You are receiving a message of heightened importance; pay close attention to what your dreams are telling you. Even if you cannot understand what is being whispered in your dream, trust that the information is being received at the deepest level, at the level of the whisper itself. A whisper in a dream may also imply that the message that is on its way to you is not yet ready to be heard and understood or ready for public dissemination. A process may be incomplete.
White: Purity and wholeness are represented by white, as this is the unification of all the colors of light that are visible to the human eye. For some, white is the color of highest spirituality. For others, it connects to the perfection that arises out of the absence of contamination, as in virginity and chastity. An object that appears white reflects the light outward, absorbing none of the individual colors of the spectrum. It is this concept of reflecting the light that shines onto you back out into the world that embodies the high consciousness associated with the color white. (See Colors.)
White Animals: There is a rich history in many aboriginal cultures that is still part of the collective consciousness around the purity of the color white in the realm of animal totems. Most commonly associated with the buffalo, the wolf, and large cats, the elevation of an animal’s power is what is being expressed when that animal appears as white. In the color spectrum, white is perceived when all the vibrations of light are combined, so the symbolic meaning of white relates to complete integration and wholeness. It is a holy color (pun intended). Any animal that appears in your dream as white is a very sacred visitation indeed.
White House: This building is itself a symbol for the United States, modern democracy, and the American Dream. To be dreaming of the White House may be a reflection of your desire to achieve higher levels of expression in your community. Also, such a dream image may appear when your association with the state of affairs in politics is either inspiring you or causing you to despair. As the home of the president, the White House represents the personal consciousness of the freedoms that are fundamental to the way of life in the United States. A dream that features this image is first and foremost an expression of the collective consciousness of the United States as a great world power. Additionally, the dreamer’s personal associations with government and politics must be added for a satisfying interpretation.
Wig: Anything that covers the head relates to your thoughts and intellect. A wig covers the head and is primarily a symbol that relates to wanting to hide your true thoughts and present something more to your liking to the world. There may also be elements of attractiveness and feeling deserving of attention that are highlighted if a wig appears in your dream.
Will: The implication with a will is that someone has died. In the world of symbolism and dreams, this means that there has recently been a change where you have allowed some aspect of your personality to be sacrificed so that change could take place, like letting go of an old habit, belief, or way of behaving. The will is then a symbol for the gift and benefit that such an aspect has left behind. There is always value to a challenging situation, and a will in a dream is pointing that out.
Wind: Things may be changing rapidly. Your thoughts may be increasing in their intensity. These two notions may or may not be related, as wind has several connotations in symbolism. Anything connected to the air or sky correlates with the intellect and the realm of thoughts. Wind is an increase in the movement of this area of consciousness and therefore will always relate to how you are thinking about your world. The phrase “the winds of change” will also feature strongly in any dream that has wind in it, as increased gustiness has the capacity to alter things quite dramatically.
Window: You may want to see more deeply into some situation in your life. If you are inside a space and looking out through a window, the dream may be expressing a desire to move into new territory and free yourself from current restrictions. You may be experiencing a new opening of perspective in some area of your life.
Wine: Wine is known as the fruit of the vine and is one of the world’s oldest fermented beverages. The alcohol in wine connects it symbolically with escapism and overindulgence. However, there is great reverence associated with wine, as it is often featured in rituals that celebrate spiritual perspectives. The context of your dream will inform you of which direction to take your interpretation. (See Vineyard.)
Wings: Flying implies an ability to defy gravity, which is one of the most powerful symbols in the human experience. Wings are the agents of flight, and in this way they are evidence of your own power to elevate your experience up from any depths. Consider what the wings in your dream are attached to. Once you have a satisfying interpretation of that symbol, add the element of rising to higher consciousness through the presence of wings.
Wisdom Teeth: These teeth are so named because they usually come in later in life when a person has gained more wisdom through age. They are often the cause of discomfort, from blockage to generating abscesses, and need to be removed. To dream of them is to be recognizing a shift in your development to a higher level of wisdom and the discomfort that comes from growth.
Witch: This is an archetypal character aspect that connects you to magic, the occult, and the mysteries of life. The witch is a creature of relatively modern invention with little, if any, presence in the older mythologies that have shaped Western culture. Today, the witch figures prominently in contemporary fairy tale folklore and is a staple character of Halloween. The witch no longer heals and ministers to people—now she casts evil spells and eats children. Since this is an archetype, how the witch appears in your dream is important to your understanding of your own personal development. The areas of life ruled by this archetype are mysticism, healing, and magic, primarily in the feminine principle, which relates to creativity, receptivity, nurturance, and caretaking. Examine your witch for character, skill, and motivation. Her character will inform you of the level of good versus evil within your psyche. The power of her skills will inform you of your personal access to the magic in the universe. Understanding what inspires her will get you in touch with your own movement toward integration and away from manipulation. Any number of haglike female characters could be considered the witch archetype. Some may in fact be evil, while others may be disenfranchised healers. Given the witch’s origins in mysticism and the history of misunderstandings over the centuries, it is important to consider this duality when interpreting this symbol. Though she may inspire fear and dread, the witch has powerful magic that, if understood and properly used, can be invaluable to the human experience.
Wizard: This very powerful archetype has taken on new meaning in the past few decades because of the presence of the wizard in film, television, and video games. The wizard is the arbiter of magic, which in human development relates to the ability to create drastic change in an instant. In Jungian psychology, this archetype is known as the magus, or magician, and he brings with him the capacity to alter your perspective of life in miraculous ways through the power of increased wisdom. In a dream, the wizard is a harbinger and bringer of great and important information, so pay attention. The wizard has a lot in common with the witch.
Wolf: One of the most powerful totems associated with the feminine principle, the wolf is a pack animal that is most active at night. This nocturnal behavior connects the wolf symbolically with the shadow and your ability to maneuver in the darker territories of your nature. The wolf’s strong association with the moon also cements the relationship between the wolf as a symbol and the moon’s connection to cycles, changeability, and all things that relate to the movement of the unconscious mind. When the wolf appears in a dream, you are being guided by very strong forces that know their way around the darker recesses of the psyche.
Womb: The womb is where all life is created and prepared for birth. This is a powerful symbol of gestation, whether what is about to be born is a life, an idea, a creative impulse, or anything that you desire to manifest. An empty womb indicates a sense of loss or lack around your power to create something new. If there is indeed something growing in the womb of your dream, patience will be required to allow the process that you are engaged in to run its course.
Wood: Wood is one of the mainstays of our existence and is even considered an element in some of the elemental systems in various cultures. It was not that long ago in human history that everything of strength and fortitude was created out of wood. While today wood is no longer the strongest material we work with, it symbolically represents a desire to create something of substance that simultaneously connects us to the earth in a grounded fashion. Anything made out of wood in a dream is asking you to connect more to nature and your earthly origins.
Work: You are dreaming of your daytime obligations and responsibilities. We are a society centered around jobs and work. Most people relate to their jobs as something that they have to do in order to make ends meet. In this way, your job and your workplace are symbolic representations of all of the responsibilities and obligations that life presents you with. Very often, dreams about your work are to be taken very literally. You spend a great deal of time there, and your dreams may be filled with images from your day. A dream taking place where you work may very well be a compensatory dream helping you cope with the stress and wake up the next day to face it all over again. However, such a dream could also be a convenient way for your unconscious to express feelings surrounding other responsibilities and obligations that need attention. Not all dreams taking place at work are stressful. If this is the case, use your feelings about your job, the environment at work, and your coworkers to help you identify what elements of your own personality are being expressed in your dream. Many people have a very different sense of self in the workplace than in other parts of life. Consider your relationship to your work carefully when examining a dream that took place there.
World Trade Center: A global symbol for the power of the United States of America, the World Trade Center entered the permanent collective consciousness as a symbol of indomitable spirit and the fundamental human capacity to withstand change at a terrible and dramatic level. No attack can actually touch you at the level of your soul, and the presence of the World Trade Center in a dream may be reminding you of the bigger picture of your very existence as a spiritual journey. This may be most needed when facing the collapse of things in your life that you hold dear.
Wound(s): This evidence of a past experience is revealing current levels of vulnerability. A wound is an indication that something dramatic and dangerous has already occurred. It not only is evidence of the event itself, but also symbolizes the residual damage that the wounding event may have left you vulnerable to. While wounds to the body are physical in nature, they can symbolically represent emotional, psychological, and spiritual wounds as well. The most important thing to consider about a wound in a dream is the state that it has left you in. The greater the risk, the higher the stakes of the life situation that the dream is expressing. The presence of infection may be revealing that an old hurt left unattended is festering and causing you pain and discomfort. Anything that results in a loss of blood relates to passion and life force being leaked out or dissipated.
Wreath: The wreath itself is a symbol with origins in pagan cultures where branches of trees were fashioned into circles to symbolize the continuity of the seasons. If you dream of a wreath, you may be being inspired by the holiday season, but what is being expressed is the deeper connection to the original meaning of honoring the constant cycle of the dying off in winter so that spring will come again.