Hair: In general terms, hair is a feminine symbol of beauty and attractiveness, but it also connects to strength and power as expressed by the Samson myth, where hair was the secret to great masculine power. Samson’s strength was only accessible to him while his masculine body was integrated with the feminine principle as represented by his hair. Another phenomenon to be examined where hair is concerned relates to coveting: those with curly hair wish they had straight hair and those with straight hair wish for curls. Since modern chemistry allows for alteration with alarming precision, the color of hair in dreams can hold powerful symbolic significance. Consider changes in color as connecting with an unconscious desire for a shift in expression in your outward persona. The color that shows up has meaning as well. Blonde hair is most coveted but is also associated with a lack of intelligence. Intellect is the realm of the brunette. Red hair correlates with passion and magic. Given that hair is on the head, this symbol connects to thoughts, both conscious and unconscious. Dreaming of long hair can indicate thoughts based on a desire for beauty to be more fully expressed. Hair that is bound in some fashion might reflect unconscious feelings of constraint in the area of personal expression. Hair being cut, lost, or radically altered can point to the need for a shift in thoughts about attractiveness. A wig represents a desire to actively create a mode of expressiveness that is not organically your own.
Haircut: Hair is a symbol of attractiveness and strength, so a haircut is the act of attending to these notions and keeping them in the best possible state. If the haircut is extreme, you may be experiencing a drastic diminution of your sense of personal attractiveness and/or personal power. Such an image could also be revealing a desire to shift how you are seen in the world in a dramatic way by no longer relying on ways of manipulation that don’t feel authentic anymore.
Hallway: A hallway is a part of any indoor structure that leads to other more significant rooms. In the realm of consciousness, the hallway is a symbol of an inner transition or change. If your dream takes place in a hallway or features one strongly, then you are in some sort of process that has not yet led you to your final destination.
Hammer: A basic tool for building, the hammer forces one object to penetrate another. When this is the intended choice and all is working well, the hammer is a symbol of being more effective in joining things together in order to build something. However, a hammer can also be a symbol for attempting to force something that might actually require a bit of finesse. Let the context of the dream help you determine how to interpret this symbol.
Hammock: The hammock is a symbol of both relaxation and the notion of getting back to nature, since it is something that is generally connected to trees. As a symbol in a dream, it is calling you to let go of worldly cares and remember your natural connection to the earth and restfulness.
Handcuffs: Handcuffs are used to bind someone in order to restrict their movements, usually in the case of criminal activity. In this way, they connect symbolically to this sense of restriction and the inhibition of freedom, but also to the consequences of behaviors and choices you may have made that have resulted in such restriction. There is a secondary meaning to handcuffs as paraphernalia in sexual play where this type of binding is considered erotic. If the latter is the case, you may want to investigate whether sexual issues are inhibiting your freedom.
Hands: Hands have an enormous capacity for creativity and expression that are the exclusive territory of human beings. On a personal level, one’s hands divulge an extraordinary amount of information. The condition and appearance of a person’s hands directly reflect what the person does with them on a regular basis. Holding on to or hiding one’s hands can be an indication of a need to exert a measure of control over personal expression. Overuse of the hands while talking could point to an excessive amount of embellishment in communication that may put a distance between you and others. A disembodied hand can represent actions without conscience. The act of making something with your hands could indicate a call do so more often in life. The notion of “getting your hands dirty” can apply to having a richer experience as a result of throwing yourself fully into something.
Hanging: A hanging has two symbolic connotations. The first is that it is a death and so it relates to the sacrifice that comes along with great change and transformation. The person dying by hanging represents a part of yourself that may be being released or let go of in order for something new to come along to replace it. Because hanging involves the neck, issues of communication and the voice may be part of the meaning of such a symbol. Consider again the person who is hanging in the dream. Once you understand the character aspect of what part of your personality the individual represents, you may consider whether that part of you is choking off your ability to have a more authentic voice in some aspect of your life.
Harbor: A harbor is a natural or humanmade piece of land that is connected to a larger waterway in such a way as to make the movement of ships easy and accessible. Land relates to the conscious mind, and the ocean represents the unconscious mind. In this way, a harbor is the symbol of your ability to receive that which comes to you through explorations of your emotional nature and unconscious mind. A harbor is a powerful symbol of abundance, as it is through the harbor that great wealth and natural resources from other lands are taken up. The state of the harbor in your dreams will give you a good idea of how well you are prepared to receive the richness that life has to offer you.
Hardware Store: Hardware is symbolic of all the structural and mechanical elements of life, and a store is your ready access to the things that can make your life run more efficiently. Also, since many of the tools and materials purchased at such a location relate to the act of building, a trip to the hardware store in a dream could point to the need to construct something new or reconstruct something that is no longer functioning effectively. What needs fixing?
Harp: All musical instruments relate to passionate expression, though the harp is very ethereal in nature. If a harp is featured in your dream, you may be expressing a need to be more aspirational and connect to higher callings. The harp is also connected to the notion of heaven, and there may be a connection to spiritual ascension reflected in a dream with a harp in it.
Harvest: The harvest is when all the benefits of any endeavor are reaped and enjoyed. This is symbolic of any effort to create something of value. If it is time to harvest something in your dream state, you are enjoying a period of great bounty and reaping the rewards of past efforts.
Hat: The head is the symbolic wellspring of our thoughts and ideas. Hats both adorn and protect the head. As such, a hat can represent specific ideas or thoughts themselves, but also the need or desire to contain them. In terms of adornment, a hat can be the outward expression of an inner idea. In the realm of protection, a hat can connect with keeping such ideas firmly in place. Wearing someone else’s hat could be expressing the notion of trying on someone else’s ideas. (See Cap.)
Haunted House: A house is always a symbol of the self. A haunted house then is a sense of self that is plagued by regrets of the past that continue to haunt you. What mistakes have you made that you cannot forgive yourself for?
Hawk: All birds are messengers of some sort, but the power of the hawk is its vantage point. Hawks have great intelligence and exceptional eyesight. Their majestic wingspan can take them to very high ground where they can see quite far. When the hawk visits you in the dream state, you are able to take advantage of this ability to see into the distance across both time and space. Hawks are bringers of messages and help point to new directions with confidence and clarity.
Head: The head is where the brain is and therefore is the symbolic home to thoughts and thinking. A dream that features a head may connect to the thoughts and ideas of the person whose head it is. A dream that features the head in a significant way could be pointing out that you are “too much in your head” and would benefit from giving a rest to overthinking things. The head also houses the face, which relates to your persona and how you present yourself to the world. Such a dream image may be expressing ideas about how you are being perceived. To “rip someone’s head off” is an expression that relates to great anger, so a disembodied head in a dream may be the result of unexpressed rage.
Headlights: The headlights on a car or other vehicle illuminate the road so that travel can be accomplished at night. The ability to see in what is otherwise darkness is part of the symbol’s meaning. Darkness connects with shadow and things disowned, rejected, or feared, and headlights allow you to move through your life despite such psychological obstacles. The headlights on a car resemble its eyes, and in this way they connect to the ability to “see” in the dark so that further movement on a particular journey can occur.
Headstone: See Tombstone.
Heart: The heart is the center of our being and is responsible for pumping life force through us every moment we are alive. It is a symbol of life, passion, and a kind of intelligence that moves slowly and powerfully in the direction of true happiness. Any dream that features the heart, either literally or symbolically through a shape or depiction of the heart, is expressing something about your current relationship with this intelligence and how it is operating in your experience. The shape of the heart has become a powerful symbol, especially through the celebration of Valentine’s Day, where the sharing of such a shape is an expression of love and devotion to another person. If this is the heart in your dream, you may be feeling the impulse to make your feelings known. A broken heart indicates that some process is being undertaken in order to heal some past hurt. Pain, illness, or injury in the heart indicates that some very difficult change is occurring that may be causing a sense of grief and loss in your life. A heart transplant means that the change has been so great that you need to start over again in the arena of love.
Heart Attack: The sudden and destructive impact of a wounded heart is about abrupt changes and transformation around how you experience love. Results of a heart attack can range from innocuous discomfort to death. The heart is the symbolic center of love. When love is compromised for too long, the heart may rebel and attack. In this context, when we use the word love, we aren’t necessarily referring to feelings of romantic attachment. Love is the primary principle on which life is based; anything that opposes love, such as anger, resentment, envy, or pride, is a quality that can have an impact on the heart. Often the causes of a heart attack go unnoticed for a long time before the actual event occurs. In this way, such a dream image may indicate that the underlying cause of your unconscious discontent may have been lingering below the surface for a long while before this time. If you are the one having a heart attack in your dream, then look to where in your life issues around love may be hurting you on a deep level. If someone else in your dream is the victim, then use that person as a character aspect of the part of your personality that is suffering due to a matter of love or the lack thereof.
Heights: You need to get a higher vantage point in order to achieve some objectivity in some area of your life. This higher perspective also offers you a higher level of consciousness. The higher your vantage point, the more expansive your view of your environment will be. This takes on the symbolic meaning of expanded consciousness. The higher your level of thought, the more enlightened you are considered to be. This is so because there is a correlation between expanded consciousness and making positive, life-affirming choices. In simpler terms, the more you see, the more you know. The more you know, the more informed you can be about your choices. This expansion, however, comes with a caveat. Choosing to live at higher levels of consciousness brings with it a great deal of responsibility. The higher you go, the farther you can fall should you lose your footing. The greatest issue here is whether your fear of falling from a great height is real or imagined. Even the most precarious precipice is safe as long as you practice stillness. However, stillness is perhaps the greatest challenge in the human experience. The key to understanding this symbol is relativity. The roof of a small building will afford you a view of everything that is near it. Conversely, being up in space can afford a view of the entire world. The greater the height, the higher the level of consciousness being expressed. Your emotional experience of that height in your dream must color the interpretation you assign it.
Helicopter: Like any vehicle or mode of transportation, a helicopter in a dream represents movement on your path in life. However, a helicopter is primarily connected to its ability to move up and down, hover, and move swiftly while staying close to the ground. Because of this, it is often used for observation or transportation across short distances in a very fast manner. In a dream, a helicopter represents these same concepts as they relate to consciousness: the ability to observe the lay of the land more effectively and to jump from one place to another with ease and speed.
Hell: When most people think of hell, they are relating to a Christian idea of an afterlife where people go when they do not subscribe to certain dogmas relating to behavior. The New Thought community thinks of hell as the experience of life on Earth when lived in the illusion of separation from the sense of Divine Source. No matter what your personal view of hell is, the principle that underlies it is separation and the pain that comes when you feel disconnected from love. This can manifest at any moment in life when you feel cut off from some source of warmth, affection, or even validation. At such moments, a dream of hell can be a powerful expression of this alienated state. Ask yourself where you feel separate from your ability to feel safe and loved.
Helmet: A helmet is something that provides protection. Since it connects with the head, the symbolic meaning relates primarily to thoughts and ideas. If the helmet in your dream is connected to a particular kind of activity, such as a sport, there may be a desire to have more joy in your life as long as risk can be averted. Your interpretation should include considering whether the presence of the helmet is necessary or is coming from fear and an unwillingness to be vulnerable in the expression of new ideas.
Heroin: The ultimate opiate, heroin creates an immediate and powerful euphoria that leads to tremendous withdrawal and often dire consequences. As a symbol, it relates to the lengths to which people will sometimes go in order to feel good in the moment despite the negative consequences of the choices that are made. Heroin also relates symbolically to the perpetual cycle of engaging in a certain form of escapism no matter what. Anything can be a setup for an addictive response. If this should appear in a dream, look to your life to what your current version of heroin might be.
Hidden Figure: The hidden figure in a dream always relates to a quality, character aspect, or skill set that has not yet revealed itself to you. Often a specter of fear, the hidden figure should be considered a positive element or a needed ingredient that you have yet to embrace.
Hidden Room: This is a universal dream about previously unknown or hidden resources. A house or home of any kind represents the dreamer’s sense of self. If you discover a room that you didn’t know was there, it is like finding a new aspect of yourself that was formerly unknown. This can be interpreted as something that is just becoming available to you, such as new thoughts, resources, or strengths that exist in you but were previously unavailable or untapped. What you find in a hidden room should figure prominently in your interpretation. Your association with anything you seek or discover should be considered as symbolic of a resource that you already possess but are just now able to utilize. Not all hidden room dreams are pleasant; some can be quite disturbing. If this is the case, remember that if you find something troubling within your psyche, accepting and incorporating such shadow elements is crucial to facilitating integration. If the room suddenly disappears, consider that the resource you counted on finding within yourself may not be as fully formed as you had thought. No matter what the sensibility of the discovery, this image is always an embodiment of the possibility that at any moment in life, more can be revealed.
Hieroglyphics: This symbolic written language is very different from any language in the modern era. As such, it represents the communication of thoughts and ideas that may be very difficult to make sense of. Hieroglyphics have a reverent aura about them, and if they appear in a dream, they could symbolize information of a spiritual nature that is still encoded in a sense of secretiveness. It is up to you to break the code and receive the higher wisdom.
High School: You are dreaming of being held accountable for your responsibilities; this is also the symbolic passage from adolescence to adulthood. The primary symbolic meaning for this image is deeply connected to your own personal experience of this period in your life. In a general sense, high school is where most of us learned life lessons of responsibility and sexual identity as well as where we built the foundation for the directions we took as grownups. However, the overall experience of this turbulent time varies from person to person and can range from fun and joyous to excruciatingly painful. When you dream of high school, your unconscious is expressing emotional issues that have their roots in this time in your history. This common dream symbol is often related to performance anxiety.
Hike: You need to explore the elements of your life that are off the beaten path and away from your normal routine. A hike takes us into settings that we normally would not traverse. In terms of consciousness, the natural landscapes you explore on a hike connect to your deeper, more natural human nature, free from the constraints of whatever in your life feels constricting. A hike in a dream may be expressing a desire to be free of obligations and responsibilities.
Hill: Life is feeling more effortful now. Land is consciousness, and if your journey takes you up a hill, you are feeling the challenges of things weighing you down or making your journey more arduous. The height of a hill will correlate with the amount of stress you are feeling. A hill in a dream may also represent the challenges you face that are exhilarating and will result in some sort of payoff, for as you reach the top of the hill, you will have the benefit of both the view and the trip down.
Hippo: The hippo is one of the largest mammals on Earth, and though it resembles the pig and the elephant, its closest living relative is the whale. Hippos are semi-aquatic, so their medicine is derived from this need to stay mostly submerged during daylight. The underwater posture connects them to the shadow realms of consciousness that are just below the surface and steeped in emotion. Despite their awkward shape and docile manner, hippos can be quite aggressive and can outrun a human. In this way, they connect to those strong feelings that are lurking just under the surface that can emerge at any moment and overtake you.
Hockey: All sporting events are symbolic of the way in which life itself is like a game. With hockey, the distinctions are its fast pace and the tendency toward violence. If hockey features in a dream, you may be giving yourself permission to be freer with your aggressive nature than you might normally be. Conversely, you may be noticing this tendency in others. The fact that hockey takes place on ice may indicate the agility needed to stay in the game in some chaotic and unpredictable experience that is currently unfolding for you. Ice is frozen water and water is a symbol of emotions. Hockey in a dream may reflect being graceful despite feelings that may have gone cold.
Hole: A hole implies that something is missing. Whether this is a literal hole in an object, a hole that has been dug in the ground, or the metaphorical hole that people describe having in their heart or gut, the basic symbolic meaning behind a hole is that a piece of something has been taken from where it belongs and there is an acute sense of something missing as a result. Allow the dream context to reveal the area of your life in which you are having this experience and the severity of the wound.
Hologram: Once a product of science fiction, the notion of a hologram has emerged as a possible explanation for the very structure of our universe. As such, in a dream, a hologram may be in the realm of what is known as sacred geometry and could be connecting you to higher wisdom in a spiritual experience. Allow the context of the dream to inform your interpretation. A hologram allows for something to be considered from all angles, so there is an element of objectivity present when it appears in a dream.
Holy Grail: The Holy Grail is a sacred object from the Christian tradition that is thought to have been the goblet used by Christ at the Last Supper. The metaphysical emphasis on this as a symbol connects to the feminine shape of any goblet as a container for the energy of the Divine. If this appears in your dream, you may be experiencing a connection to powerful spiritual impulses. If your personal religious affiliations are in this direction, such an image may have more meaning for you. At the heart of this symbol is the idea that a human being is a vessel for God’s infinite love.
Homosexuality: At the heart of this aspect of the human condition from a symbolic perspective is the joining up of either the feminine principle or the masculine principle in greater force and emphasis. This is not sexual at all; the masculine principle is related to doing and the feminine principle is related to being. From an archetypal perspective, the individual who is homosexually oriented has the gift of being able to vibrate with both of these principles as a natural part of his or her energetic birthright, so a dream featuring some reference to homosexuality may be expressing this higher nature associated with such an orientation. Of course, sexuality is a complicated issue for many people, and a dream that expresses such themes may be operating on many levels. You will need to examine your own sexual mores and prejudices if you are not homosexual and such a dream should occur for you. If characters within your dream are known to be homosexual, you must interpret them as aspects of your own personality that are aligning you in either the direction of a need to be more or to do more, or to bridge the gap between the two with a higher level of intuitive grace. If you are made uncomfortable by the content of the dream, you may want to consider ways in which you are having anxiety about your own masculinity or femininity in a way that may or may not be sexual in nature.
Honeycomb: This complex feat of engineering is ultimately a storage unit. In this way, as a symbol a honeycomb relates to the capacity to keep on hand something that is valued or desired. Since what is generally kept in such a structure is honey, there is the added dimension of the thing that is desired being the sweet elements of life.
Hood: Since a hood is worn on the head, the first element of how to interpret it as a symbol connects to thoughts and mentality, either your own if you are wearing an outfit that includes a hood, or a part of you as represented by someone in your dream. A hood is ultimately about hiding something, so you might want to consider what thoughts or ideas you are trying to keep hidden or secret. There can be some menace associated with hoods, between historical references to hooded people engaging in secret acts of mystery or violence to the modern-day association of the hoodie and criminal behavior. What are you trying to hide?
Hoodie: The media has created a modern-day association between the hoodie and criminal behavior. If you see someone wearing a hoodie in your dream, you may want to consider the person as a character aspect of your own personality that you suspect is up to no good. If you are wearing a hoodie, the same may be true of you. This symbol, however, begs you to ask whether your suspicion is based on something authentic or on fear and prejudice. Check your motives closely in some area of your life.
Hooks: A hook is a tool used to keep something hanging in one place. As such, hooks represent anything inside your consciousness that an outside idea can be hung on. In order for you to accept something that someone else presents to you, it must first have a hook on which it can be hung. This is true whether that idea is positive or negative, helpful or destructive. Anything that is hung on a hook, or the presence of hooks in a dream, indicates a readiness for something to be hung there.
Horizon: The horizon is expansive and limitless as well as finite and constricted. It is the fixed point that is not fixed at all but ever changing, even as it seems to remain the same. The horizon is a symbol of the experience of nature as infinite and limited at the same time, which is why in life it inspires such awe and wonder. As a symbol in a dream, it reminds you of this part of your existential nature. A dream that features the horizon is asking you to consider the higher elements of your nature.
Horse: The horse is the ultimate symbol of power. We even use the horse as a measurement of an engine with the term “horsepower.” When harnessed, this mighty beast can take you to extremes of speed and strength. As a totem animal, the horse will visit in a dream when you need to be in touch with this visceral energy to move.
Horseshoe: St. Dunstan is said to have put a shoe on the hoof of the devil, and in this way the horseshoe as a talisman with the power to keep the devil away was created. A more modern consideration of the power of the horseshoe relates to grounding and harnessing the power of the horse through the symbol of the shoe that protects the horse’s ability to move. No matter how you relate to this symbol, if it appears in a dream, you are connecting with the idea of good fortune and the providence of luck.
Hose: A hose directs water in a specific direction for various constructive purposes. Water is always a symbol of emotions and feelings, and in this case, the hose represents your ability to take whatever is going on with you in this way and utilize it to your best advantage.
Hospital: You are dreaming of the need for healing and a restoration of health, whether that health is literal or symbolic. Hospitals tend to evoke powerful reactions. The discomfort that colors most people’s associations tends to overshadow the benevolence connected to them as places of healing. A common reaction around hospitals is to fear them, adding a touch of irony to our relationship with the healing process. Healing is transformation, and the first step to any major change is the breakdown that precedes the breakthrough. Since the breakdown is the scary part, we avoid it, just as some people avoid hospitals in waking life. It is easy to forget that in order for surgeons to heal a patient, they must first cut the person’s body open, creating a wound. And since not everyone who checks into a hospital is fortunate enough to check out, these places are indelibly connected to the fear of death and dying. However, remember that death is always followed by rebirth. In this way, being in or near a hospital in a dream is always going to indicate that some healing is either underway or necessary. If you are the patient, then consider that your sense of self is undergoing a significant shift. If you are a visitor, then the healing transformation is connected to a character aspect or particular way of being as embodied by the person you are going to see. If you are playing the part of healer, the dream may be helping you step into that role in some area of life that is undergoing a transformation. The fear or repulsion that is present in the dream will give you an idea of how much resistance you may be unconsciously engaged in. If you are experiencing a health issue in life, the image of a hospital may be literal, in which case your dream relationship to the hospital will inform you of any underlying resistance to surrendering to your body and its functioning (or the lack thereof).
Hot Spring: A natural hot spring is an opening in the earth that connects to an aquifer below that is being heated by the geothermal system that exists below the surface. In this way, a hot spring first and foremost relates symbolically to emotional expressions that are of a more passionate nature and that bubble up from below the surface of consciousness. For the most part, since a hot spring is associated with relaxation and health, this is a very positive symbol relating to the benefits that can be gained when you allow feelings from below the surface of your consciousness to slowly and methodically surface and be expressed.
Hot Tub: All water in dreams connects to your emotional experience. A hot tub is warm and relaxing and as a symbol connects to the powerful and beneficial experience of allowing yourself the luxury of leaning into feelings of passion and intensity.
Hotel: Any home-like dwelling in a dream is representative of the self. A space of transitional living such as a hotel or motel room connects to the self in a temporary state of being. This symbol usually appears when there is change afoot, indicating that the sense of self is in transition and not yet fully “home.” Given this transitory nature, such a dream may indicate the need for a temporary respite in order to consider being more authentic with regard to your identity. If the dwelling is dilapidated, as in an inexpensive motel, then you may be experiencing downward movement in the area of abundance. If the hotel is grand and lavish, you may be preparing yourself for an increase in abundance. Hotel rooms can also be connected to both sexuality and mortality, as they are often used in life for sexual encounters and suicides. Hotel-room sex could indicate a self-investigation that involves looking at an area of your sexual expression. If the latter image is present, ask yourself what part of you may need to commit suicide (be sacrificed) so that the rest of you can move forward with your life.
House: Anything that is a home in a dream connects to your sense of self. A house is a clear reflection of identity at the time of the dream. The sense of identity that the dream is trying to express relates directly to the qualities of the house as it appears in the dream. A house from your past and/or childhood relates to your identity as it was generated at the time you lived there. A house from your imagination also relates to your sense of self, and you must use the context of the dream to inform you of the meaning to associate with it. A mansion is an expanded sense of self, while something small or more rundown is asking you to look at issues of self-worth. A house under construction is the self being built up, whereas one that is being destroyed takes on the view of deconstruction or reinvention. The same ideas should be applied to any living space, from an apartment to a hotel room, a great big house or a hovel.
Humming: The act of singing represents the expression of passion and excitement. Humming is the less intense version of this that is often done in the background, just below the level of conscious awareness or when the desire to express is present but slightly inhibited. Humming often indicates that joy is present.
Hummingbird: All birds are messengers of some sort, but the hummingbird’s primary medicine is related to your ability to connect with joy. The hummingbird can easily maneuver into any sort of space in order to obtain the nectar of a flower, a symbol of the sweetest that life has to offer. When the hummingbird appears in a dream, joy is available to you with grace and ease.
Hurricane: A hurricane is a wild and potentially terrifying combination of wind and rain. Wind symbolically relates to thoughts and ideas that are being whipped up to proportions of frenzy. The presence of rain indicates that such an experience is also emotional in nature. If there is a hurricane in your dream, look to where in your life some person or circumstance is causing you an enormous amount of pain, sadness, and rage. Such a dream may be a response to significant and stressful changes in your life.