Description: You are confronted with overwhelming natural or man-made disasters. The dream may involve a flood, torrential rain or tidal wave. Variations include earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, lava, firestorms, lightning strikes, tornadoes, typhoons, cyclones, hurricanes, or some other desolation. Man-made disasters include attacks by atomic bombs, chemical warfare, and so forth. You are usually terrified in a catastrophe dream, as you rlife seems in jeopardy. (Dreams of drowning that are not connected with a disaster are classified with Falling or Drowning dreams. Dreams about getting wounded or dying that do not involve a calamity are classed with Injury or Death dreams.)
Frequency: Disaster dreams are fairly common. Some people have them often, others only in times of crisis. They typically occur when you feel that some waking life emergency is impending or has just taken place.
Advertisement
Usual meanings: You may believe that something in your waking life feels like a disaster or that you feel destroyed by circumstances and fear that you cannot survive this catastrophe. You may be feeling overwhelmed by something that seems chaotic.
Questions to ask yourself:
Earthquake or disaster variation:
- What situations in your waking life feel at risk?
- What did you do in the dream to escape destruction?
- How can you get the help you need in the waking world to stabilize the situation and yourself?
- Is there any possible benefit from the drastic change that's underway?
Flood variation:
- What situation in waking life is making you feel overwhelmed?
- Do you feel profoundly sad about current life circumstances?
- What did you do in the dream to save yourself?
- What can you do in the waking situation to improve it or get support? Tornado or great wind variation:
- What is it in waking life that is making you feel storm-tossed?
- What did you do in your dream to protect yourself from the storm?
- How can you improve your waking life situation?
- How can you resolve your inner turmoil and return to a stable state?
Fire or volcano variation:
- What is waking life is making you feel hotly aroused right now? Anger? Passion? Fever? Inflammation?
- What did you do to cope with the destructive fire in the dream?
- What do you need to do about the waking circumstances?
- How can you calm your internal fire?
Snowstorm or ice storm variation:
- What situation in your waking life might be making you feel frozen out or loveless at this time?
- Is there any circumstance at present that makes you feel frozen with grief?
- Is there something in your environment making you feel cold with fear?
- How did I cope with the ice and cold in my dream? Did I take action?
- What can I learn about my waking life situation to thaw out any icy feelings or invite warm, loving ones?
War and explosion variations:
- What is making me feel under angry attack at the moment?
- What did you do in the dream to protect yourself and others?
- What could you have done in the dream to protect yourself and others better?
- How can you best resolve or cope in the waking state with the anger present in you or others?
- What might you learn from this period of inner and/or outer conflict?
Advertisement