Things we repeat over and over, like habits; movement towards greater awareness or insight.
Example: We walk around, go upstairs, and I notice a staircase leading to a room or rooms.
The stairs are painted in the green too, and they go up square, about eight steps in a flight, but round and round—spiral. I am scared by them, don’t want to go up, but am curious. We move in and nobody but myself has really taken any notice of the stairs. Nobody has been up. Half way up I can see there is a glass roof, the wooden frames painted green. I am terrified but have to go on. Then I wake. Next dream I got up there. It smelt very musty. Lots of draw sheets covering things. I bent to lift a sheet. It was raining. I could hear it thrashing on the glass. Then I woke (Ann H). In this example we have the spiral and the square combined in the stairs. In this way the dream manages to combine many different ideas such as climbing to the unknown, spiralling or circling something, and the squareness or down-to-eanh nature of what is being discovered. There arc things we have learnt, yet not realised consciously. Like a jigsaw puzzle, we have all the pieces, and we sense the connection, but we have never formed it into a conscious thought or verbal idea. It therefore remains as a feeling sense or hunch, but not a rational idea. Ann is spiralling towards, or circling around, such a realisation. She is frightened because it may be difficult—one may realise that all the years of marriage point to having been used as a doormat.
[1]Patterns such as those printed on cloth or displayed in mosaics represent the order or chaos of your inner thoughts and feelings; the patterns, habits and beliefs by which you choose to live. Dream spirals indicate the things you repeat over and over again in your life so that they become habits. They can also represent intuition, or the movement towards greater awareness and insight in your real life. The idea is that everything is in constant motion. In waking life, spirals appear as whirlpools or spinning wheels, all centers of energy and activity; your dreaming mind may use these images to reflect your own energy in waking life.
Water is also a symbol of the unconscious so if you dreamed of a whirlpool, could this reflect your feeling of going round and round in circles in waking life and getting nowhere? Or could a spinning wheel have reminded you of your simmering anger? Evocative of staircases and snakes, the spiral is also a symbol of sexual intercourse or movement either towards higher aspirations, if it is rotating clockwise and upwards, or basic instincts, if it is rotating anticlockwise and downwards.
If the spiral is moving toward the center, this suggests approaching your center indirectly.
If the spiral is inert and stylized, like those that appear on seashells or the winding paths of a labyrinth or maze, this suggests a concentration of inward energy; your unconscious may be urging you to gain a deeper level of self-awareness.
[2](1) The symbolism of spiral movement may depend partly on its speed and partly on how it feels - good or bad.
See Also: Anticlockwise, Clockwise.
Upward spiral movement may symbolize progress and achievement. (Dr Jacobi describes individuation as a spiral process. On individuation) However, if the speed is hectic, it may symbolize getting out of control through trying to achieve too much.
Downward spiralling may symbolize something negative: for example, sliding - or hurtling - towards destruction.
(2) A stationary spiral - staircase, candle, conch, etc. - may be a symbol of sexuality, representing either vagina or penis or of fertility, growth, well-being.
[3]The spiral is actually the truest shape with regard to the movement of all life. Plants, flowers, and even the solar system itself move in a spiral-like direction.
If you are dreaming of the shape of a spiral or movement that appears to be unfolding in a spiral, you may be dreaming of the sacred geometry of life itself.
A new level of psychic energy may be being released in your experience.
The context of the dream will indicate whether you are feeling in control of this burst of energy or overwhelmed by it.
[4]A spiral upward may represent progress and advancement.
If it is downward, however, it expresses despair and failure.
According to Chinese feng shui mystical tradition, the spirals are auspicious symbols that encourage health, wealth, and happiness. Also, if the life energy (Chi energy) moves in spirals then nothing can be better.
[5]Spiraling, either upward or downward, is often used figuratively to refer to the rapid rise and fall of finances. It may also symbolize flux in weather, health, and employment cycles, to name just a few. It can also simply mean that the dreamer feels things are “spiraling out of control.”
[6]Dreams of a spiral signify the process of your evolution and growth.
If you dream of a spiral staircase, then your dream is giving you the message to continue onward and upward even if you think you aren’t making progress.
[7]A symbol of movement inward, the spiral is a circular journey toward the core self or spiritual center.
It is a symbol that points to the penetration of the deepest aspects of the soul and its wisdom.
[8]A spiral staircase or spiral mountain path is symbolic of progressively moving up or down in life from one area to another
[9]Symbol: The spiral is a symbol of eternal renewal, repetition, and the cyclical nature of evolution.
[10]Spirals and spiralling movement in dreams refers to anxiety about work and finances.
[11]Implying that one’s progress is continuously spiraling, either up or down
[12]1. Out of control.
2. Taking a new, albeit risky, direction.
[13]Emotional dynamics and development.
[14]See Also: Shapes
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