Sacrifice Dream Interpretation

(1) If you are being sacrificed in the dream, there are at least three possibilities.

The dream may be drawing your attention to a martyr complex, habitual and compulsive self-punishment, self-denial or self-denigration. Such negative conditioning can be got rid of only by reconditioning, by making positive affirmations every day: for example, ‘I love myself dearly5, ‘I accept myself totally5, ‘I have a unique value5, and ‘I desen e all the good things life offers me.5

Your unconscious may be telling you it is time to let the old you die, to make way for the new and truer you. The self-image you have accepted and conformed to in the past is probably too lopsided and needs to be supplemented by utilizing capacities or qualities that have till now lain dormant; or it may have led you completely astray from your true self, in which case it needs to be removed altogether.

Perhaps the dream is expressing a feeling that you are being abused or undervalued by other people.

(2) Arc you doing the sacrificing? If so, what is being sacrificed will usually represent some aspect of vour personality - desire, ambition, habit, prejudice - that you have given up or are being urged (by your unconscious) to give up. (If an animal is being slain, it will probably symbolize an instinctual impulse or emotion.) This is one of many cases where you have to decide whether a dream is descriptive or prescriptive: showing what you have done (and asking you to stop doing it), or showing what you ought to do. You should have no difficulty in

knowing whether you have done what the dream depicts.

If you have, the dream is asking you not to do it.

If you have not done it, the dream is asking you to do it, for the sake of personal fulfilment.

It is important to remember that sacrifice is meant to be creative: it is the giving up of something in order to achieve and enjoy something better. And if you think ‘better’ has nothing to do with enjoyment but means simply what duty requires, then you need to remember that making a sacrifice either resentfully or merely for duty’s sake is bound to be destructive in its effects both on you and on those you are in relationship with.

It is also important to remember that ‘To everything there is a season... a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast aways (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 6). There comes to us all a time for transcending animality (e.g. making sex a vehicle for love and adoration) but to attempt such things before the proper time can only breed resentment and end in disaster. Your dreams will tell you the time!

(3) Is your act of sacrifice a violent one? If so, it would suggest that some (partly unconscious) mechanism of self-punishment is at work in you and you urgently need to ask yourself why you feel guilty. Almost certainly the cause will lie in early childhood and will be an entirely innocent desire.

If the victim of the sacrifice is you, the dream could be a reflection of your attitude in real life.

It is possible that you make a martyr of yourself or that you have self-blaming tendencies. In this case, you probably feel that everyone else makes light of you, forgetting your talents and qualities.

If you make a sacrifice, you should consider what it is that you are sacrificing. An animal could signify your natural instinct; a person that you know, and aspect of yourself that you do not want to accept. In spiritual terms, the ego should be sacrificed so that the divine you can enter into the light.

In antiquity, sacrificial rituals were a way to appease the gods and add fertility to the earth. They sacrificed people for the good of cosmic and social unity. In Egypt, Osiris was quartered by his brother, Seth; in Greece, Orpheus was ripped to pieces by a group of women; in Christianity, Jesus was crucified. These acts of divine delivery still exist in modern life.

Before we can nourish others, we first need to nourish ourselves. Making sacrifices is human, but when we do too much for the world and not enough for ourselves, we are left feeling neglected and weak. Martyrdom is not fun and martyrs are at times annoying. This dream may be suggesting to you that you need to prioritize. Eliminate things in your life that are not necessary and continuously drag you down. Also, consider the fact that whatever is constantly requiring you to make personal sacrifices may not be in your best interest or conducive to your health or happiness. Superstition based dream interpretations say that dreaming about sacrifice is a dream of the contrary and that you will be enriched in the near future.

May refer directly to feeling someone is or will make you a scapegoat; sometimes connected with decision making—we cannot have all things at once, so we are willing to sacrifice one thing for another; occurs in some dreams where a change is occurring in one’s personality—parts of our nature we once identified with can now be allowed to die to the process of growth. Also sacrifice depicts a strange fact of human psychology. Some aspects of oneself grow in strength and maturity by letting them die’. While we maintain a be­haviour pattern or belief, it stays in its habitual form: when we let go of it, a new approach can emerge.

(Immolation) To offer a sacrifice in a dream means to fulfill one’s promises, relieffrom difficulty, healing of the sick, or increase in one’s earnings.

If the one offering a sacrifice interprets dreams as a profession, then it means that he has misinterpreted someone’s dream, that he gave him bad advice, or sacrificed the interest of the person in question. Sacrificing in a dream also means receiving an inheritance.

If a pregnant woman sees such a dream, it means that she will bear a righteous son.

(See Also: Abraham; Ismiiil; Immolation, Lamb, Offering, Ram, Sheep)

(See Also: Altar, Carcass)

Are you the one being sacrificed in the dream? If so, consider if you play the eternal martyr by denying your own needs and wants. Alternatively, for what exactly do you feel you should be punished?

Renouncing or forsaking something so that it can finally die away, especially an outmoded, harsh, or unrealistic self-image.

Feeling that your energy is abused, or efforts unappreciated, by others.

In the ancient world, sacrifices were made in order to gain divine favor. What is it that you must relinquish to achieve something better?

Many ancient cultures used the ritual sacrifice of a life to show devotion to the Divine. In this way, the essence of sacrifice is the exchange that is buried within it. There is a principle in dream work that when a death occurs, it is like a sacrifice, where the old way of being is released in order to birth something new. There is great power in this practice, so if a sacrifice is the scene in a dream, there is a profound level of change going on within your psyche. Something that no longer serves you is being released in order to create something new.

This type of dream may be suggesting to you that you need to prioritize; to eliminate things in your life that are unnecessary and continuously drag you down. It may also be warning you to consider the people, events, or situations that are causing you to make continual personal sacrifices, for these may not be in your best interests. Traditionally, dreams of sacrifice are contradictory in nature, and symbolize that you will be enriched in the near future.

Dreams of sacrifice denote either maturity, or a disdain of an aspect of self. Also, consider that within the word sacrifice is the root word sacred. Perhaps you are realizing that in order to improve your life, and make it sacred, you need to give something up of lesser value that is no longer serving you. Perhaps this dream is reflecting your willingness to bypass short-term satisfaction for a long-term reward.

See Also: Integration Dreams.

If dream that you are being sacrificed, it symbolizes your tendency to punish yourself. You may also feel that others don’t appreciate you.

If you dream of sacrificing yourself to save another, you are trying to find a way to express a part of yourself that has been neglected or ignored.

A dream of sacrifice may indicate that the dreamer feels “martyred” because of the time and energy they have sacrificed for others.

The dreamer may need to eliminate certain conditions to allow for more productive and rewarding experiences.

1. Doing good and sharing;

2. Bloodshed;

3. Laying down their life for another;

4. Paying a high price;

5. Evil spirits;

6. The law, (animal sacrifice); Heb. 11:4; Heb. 13:15; Eph. 5:2; Heb. Is. 53:7; Titus 2:14.

Martyrdom; you do not have to sacrifice your energy, ideals, and goals for self and others. All you need to sacrifice is the negative thinking and destructive tendencies (including martyrdom) that limit you.

1. If victim of a human sacrifice, one is feeling guilty about something.

2. Heroic action.

A dream of making a sacrifice of any kind is a portent of well-being that is unexpected.

A dream of contrary; you will soon have reason to rejoice.

A sign of coming festivities.

Letting go

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