Guest Author - Aisling Ireland
Who's gonna ride your wild horses? Who's gonna drown in your blue sea? --U2, Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, Achtung Baby
Horses have found a home in all aspects of human culture. They are written about, sung about, filmed, raced, and have fascinated people who see them running in the wild. They also figure quite prominently in mythology as Pegasus, the unicorn, and the Trojan Horse will testify. Given their prolific appearance in our culture, it is not surprising that they should also should up prolifically in our dreams. Below are some ideas about the different forms horses may assume in dreams but before looking at them, I think it is important to remember something important about animal dreams in general.
Animals, more so than possibly any other dream symbol, most often times represent us or some aspect of our nature. Taking on an animal form is one of the ways the unconscious slips past the dream 'censor' to give us vital information about ourselves. This is especially fascinating to me given the appearance of the 'shapeshifter' myth that is prevalent in so many cultures and in shamanism. Keep this in mind when analyzing the ideas that follow. For example, remember that when I speak of the horse as a power symbol, it most likely relates to your power and your relationship to it.
That being said, here are some different ways horses may gallop into your sleeping head.
Horses as Power Symbols
Horses are powerful animals. Their power has been harnessed by people to aid them in travel, to help carry out work tasks, and to wage war. How the horse appears in your dream may indicate your relationship to power. A strong steady horse may show a positive relationship with one's one power, especially if one is riding such a horse.
Horses may also be indicators of physical health with a strong, healthy horse indicating the same in one's body and a lethargic or ailing horse can indicating physical illness.
Horses as Symbols of Freedom and Independence
In the Camargue region of France the wild, often white, horses that live in the marshy areas there are one of the area's more popular tourist attractions. The tiny seaside village of Stes.-Maries-del-a-Mer has a plethora of equestrian stables where the traveler can mount a tamed horse and ride through the marshes watching the wild ones run free. Dreaming about such wild animals may indicate either a desire for such freedom or the feeling that one has attained freedom and independence. The way to decipher the difference is via one's emotions. Did seeing the wild horse leave you feeling wistful and longing or exuberant and ecstatic?
Horses as Symbols of Sexuality
The identification of horses with sex can be seen through our own euphemistic expressions for sex or sexual activity: 'riding', 'mounting', etc. Horses therefore, may appear in dream as symbols of virility and/or fertility. Keep in mind that in psyche-speak 'fertility' refers to one's ability for expansion or creative ability. Stallions are particularly apt to stand in as a sexual symbol. Again, the actions of the horse and/or your feelings about the dream horse are the keys to interpreting what the horse is saying about your relationship to sex and sexuality.
Horses as Death Symbols
Ironically, it is often horses who show up as symbols of physical death--not dying people as many dreamers often believe. Black horses are often associated with funerals as they were often employed to carry the casket of the deceased to its final resting place. Dying horses may also represent the death of energy one has devoted to a certain project, etc. In dreams where one sees a dying horse it is important to pay attention to the horse's surroundings in order to gather clues as to what may be leaving one's life. For example, if the horse is appearing in one's work environment, it may indicate that that job is 'dying' or at least your enthusiasm for it.
Talking Horses
Horses are one animal that often speaks in dreams; a common animal the unconscious uses to actually vocalize information. Listen carefully to a talking horse as it is giving one information direct from the unconscious.
And lastly, never forget the unconscious's enjoyment of employing dream word play. Sometimes a horse may be unable to speak or may simply appear as a symbol indicating 'hoarseness'--the inability to vocalize some idea or emotion.
Until next time, sleep well and dream out loud!
*~Aisling Ireland~* is an ordained Interfaith Minister, available for weddings and commitment ceremonies and a Spiritual Counselor providing dream interpretation and Tarot readings. To make an appointment check out her website at: Sang-Realta Spiritual Counseling
Achtung Baby is available to download from Amazon:
