I'm running across a sunken ship that has a thin layer of ice on it... I jump from different levels of the sunken ship... Below I can see a great white shark and it is pushing its way up and snatching people that are also running and weaving their way across the sunken ship... I keep running and balancing myself on the melting thin ice as I make my way across the ship. I take notice of my feet as I am jumping through the air... at each jump I can see the sharks face right beneath the surface. I take one last jump and land at the front of the ship, right before the shark gets me. The shark breaks through the ice and hovers in the air before crashing back down into the water. I look out to my left and I can see dry land and a beautiful forest. I jump down and feel my feet touch mossy ground.
To see a shark in your dream, indicates feelings of anger, hostility, and fierceness. You are undergoing a long and difficult emotional period and may be an emotional threat to yourself or to others. Perhaps, you are struggling with your individuality and independence, especially in some aspect of your relationship. Alternatively, a shark represents a person in your life who is greedy and unscrupulous. This person goes after what he or she wants with no regards to the well-being and sensitivity of others. The shark may also be an aspect of your own personality with these qualities.
To dream of sharks, denotes formidable enemies.
To see a shark pursuing and attacking you, denotes that unavoidable reverses will sink you into dispondent foreboding.
To see them sporting in clear water, foretells that while you are basking in the sunshine of women and prosperity, jealousy is secretly, but surely, working you disquiet, and unhappy fortune.
To see a dead one, denotes reconciliation and renewed prosperity.
Seeing a shark in your dream, represents a person whom you see as greedy and unscrupulous. This person goes after what what he or she wants with no regards to the well-being and sensitivity of others. The shark may also be an aspect of your own personality which exhibit these qualities. Alternatively, you may be going through a difficult, painful, or unpleasant emotional period. The shark symbolizes feelings of anger, hostility, and fierceness. You may be an emotional threat to yourself or to others.
Shark Meaning and Totem Symbolism
Sharks have been swimming in my awareness, and I love when this happens because it's a clear sign my energy is primed for focus - it's time to ruminate and write about shark totem symbolism. Shark also confirms self-trust, and a points me into forward momentum in my life.
There are some creatures in Nature's cradle who speak so clearly of their energetic symbolism. The shark totem is one with crystalline expression. To wit, one look at these extraordinary creatures conveys a message of sleek authority.
And the shark is an authority on all fronts of survival. In fact, those who connect with the shark totem will be masters at survival in their own waters of life. Shark people are extremely adept at summing up social situations, manipulating people and events (I don't mean that in a bad way).
A quick-list of Shark Totem symbolic meanings includes:
Calculating
Perceptive
Primal
Instinctive
Ancient
Knowing
Powerful
Focused
Mystery
Perpetual Motion
Dynamic
Unique Vision
Curious
Effective
Innovative
Superior
Efficient
Equipped
People with the shark totem navigate through life with a specialized "gut-rudder." What's a gut-rudder? That's what I call a primal instinct. It's a visceral, hard-wired knowing that guides certain humans. It's infallible, reliable, and geared for one thing only: To protect the sacred. And what is sacred? Life.
The shark is both oracle and embodiment of fundamental life. The shark relays root-chakra energy to me because of its superior instinct, and that remarkable drive for survival. That's a prime root chakra concept : Ancient Instinct. Primal Knowing.
Furthermore, sharks are symbolic of acting on life. They never wait for opportunity. They are not handmaiden's to the life experience. Far from it. Because they are authorities on life - they know precisely what it's about and they seize it with verve.
This is made manifest by their constant motion. They move to allow oxygenated currents roll over their gills. Their motion through life - actively moving forward - insures their existence. Moreover, most sharks sink when motionless (a side effect of not having a "swim bladder" as most fish do). They can't afford to be still.
This carries symbolism for those who embrace their shark totem. It identifies the tendency for forward momentum in life. If sharks swim in your awareness, it's very likely you are extremely driven and perpetually moving forward. You meet life full-on. You rarely stay in the "shallow end" of life, but prefer to move deftly through the waves of experience - encountering adventure with undeniable exuberance.
And for all this zealous talk of life, the shark is also symbolically equipped to share lessons of death too. Actually, sharks know death is a fallacy. They have no concept of it. Sharks are in a constant state of renewal, and those with the shark totem will confirm the absence of death. Sharks, and humans attuned to sharks will only see renewal - only transition.
Sharks are superior organisms. From tail to teeth, sharks convey perpetual fluidity and momentum. They are examples of progress in its most assertive stages. To wit, their biological mechanisms are so elite, they've had no need to evolve over insane spans of time. They function from a place of timeless propulsion. Ever-forward.
Perhaps it is the sharks unsinkable nature that makes it a bit of a cold character (energetically speaking). Sharks are about aerodynamic efficiency, and they allow no fluff to enter their consciousness. They're quite austere and are wrapped in robes of distance and mystery.
Those with shark totems will display similar aloofness. Inwardly, they sense the waves of emotions within and around them. Yet, outwardly they are cool, controlled, steely. This makes people of the shark clan extremely good businessmen/women, leaders and visionaries.
It's important to note the inherent duality here. The element of water is esoterically symbolic of emotions, dreams and intuition. And yet, the shark conveys a sterility in emotion. To be clear, the shark is not symbolically devoid of emotion. Rather, it is a master of emotion.
This symbolic lesson is tantamount for humankind, and the lesson is this: We can be submerged in emotional dramas, but we do not have to be swallowed by them.
Whether or not you relate to the shark as a totem, this is a sacred conveyance of emotional wisdom - a most vital gift of the shark.
Indeed, shark wisdom is so profound, it's worth a summary. So, a recap of symbolic shark messages & shark totem meanings:
Be active in life.
Attune to natural instinct.
Be propelled forward (do not regress) in your evolution.
Although surrounded by emotions, you need not be consumed by them.
Swim the path of least resistance in life, be efficient and direct in your navigations.
Lastly, let this video draw your attention to the grace inherent in the shark's mobility. Such a uniquely equipped creature, with so many (seeming) contradictions. We see an energy in the shark that is so linear and spear-like in its objective....yet, at the same time there is such delicate elegance.
The Shark is a totem of fearlessness and confidence. Sharks have incredibly sensitive noses that can smell one drop of blood in 50 million times as much water. They can feel the pressure waves made by a struggling fish and are sensitive to electromagnetic currents. They teach those with this totem how to develop and refine their own sensory abilities. The study of aromatherapy would benefit those with this medicine. Shark people are traditionally loners and in order to remain centered may require time to themselves. If they do not have this important time alone they can become irritable, anxious and aggressive in their behavior. The Shark offers the power of protection to those who resonate to it. In the course of our life's learning we can attract events and people that are disharmonious. When there is something in your life that you need to frighten away call upon the shark to help you. Working with shark medicine gives you the power and confidence to drive off the negative.
Transformation of the spirit, teaches how to swim the currents of a busy life, use of intuition to navigate effectively, aids in attuning to the world of emotions, the un/subconscious and other-worlds, heightened senses including visions, dreams and related psychic abilities. Shark teaches how to accomplish "impossible" tasks by utilizing discernment and trust.
On coins, a ship ploughing through the seas is emblematic of joy and
happiness (8). But the most profound significance of navigation is that implied
by Pompey the Great in his remark: ‘Living is not necessary, but navigation is.’
By this he meant that existence is split up into two fundamental structures:
living, which he understood as living for or in oneself, and sailing or navigating, by
which he understood living in order to transcend—or what Nietzsche from his
pessimistic angle called ‘living in order to disappear’. The Odyssey is, basically,
nothing but a navigation-myth in the sense of victory over the two essential perils
of all sailing: destruction (or the triumph of the ocean—corresponding to the
unconscious) and withdrawal (regression or stagnation). Yet Homer reserves the
end of the periplus of Odysseus for a triumphant but affectionate ‘return’ to his
wife, his hearth and home. This is a mystic idea analogous to the mystery of the
‘fall’ of the soul into the material plane of existence (by the process of involution)
and to the necessity of its returning to the starting-point (evolution)—a mystery
which has been expounded by Platonic idealism and by Plotinus in particular.
This law of the returning soul corresponds to the belief in the concept of a
‘closed’ universe (like that of the Eternal Return) or the conception of all phenomena as a cyclic organization. Navigation, as envisaged in any philosophy of
the absolute, would deny even the hero his triumphant return to the homeland
and would make of him a perpetual explorer of oceans, under endless skies. But to come back to the symbolism of the ship, every vessel corresponds to a constellation (48). The ship-symbol has been related to the holy island, in so far as both
are differentiated from the amorphous and hostile sea. If the waters of the oceans
are symbolic of the unconscious, they also can allude to the dull roar of the
outside world. The notion that it is essential first to learn to sail the sea of the
passions in order to reach the Mountain of Salvation is the same as the idea
mentioned earlier in connexion with the perils of exploring the oceans. For this
reason Guénon suggests that ‘the attainment of the Great Peace is depicted in the
form of sailing the seas’; hence, in Christian symbolism, the ship represents the
Church (28). Some of the less clearly defined aspects of the symbolism of the
ship—comparable here with the small boat and the carriage—are related to symbols of the human body and of all physical bodies or vehicles; in addition to this,
there is a cosmic implication deriving from the age-old comparison between the
sun and the moon on the one hand, and, on the other, two ships floating upon the
celestial ocean. The solar ship frequently appears on Egyptian monuments. In
Assyrian art, too, ships shaped like cups are clearly solar in character; this cupshape narrows down still further the scope of the meaning (35). Another meaning,
sometimes quite independent of the foregoing, derives not so much from the idea
of the ship as such but rather from the notion of sailing; this is the symbolism of
the Ship-of-Death. Hence, many primitive peoples place ships on the end of a
pole or on the roof of a house. On occasion, it is the roof itself (of the temple or
house) which is made to resemble a ship. Always the implication is the desire to
transcend existence—to travel through space to the other worlds. All these forms,
then, represent the axis valley-mountain, or the symbolism of verticality and the
idea of height. An obvious association here is with all the symbols for the worldaxis. The mast in the centre of the vessel gives expression to the idea of the
Cosmic Tree incorporated within the symbolism of the Ship-of-Death or ‘Ship of
Transcendence’ (50).
If you have a ship of your own sailing on the sea, it indicates advancement in riches. A
ship that is tossed in the ocean and about to sink indicates disaster in life.
To see a ship in your dream, denotes that you are exploring aspects of your emotions and unconscious. The state and condition of the ship is indicative of your emotional state. If you dream of a cruise ship, then it suggests pleasant moods. If you dream of a warship, then it means that you are experiencing feelings of aggression.
To dream that you are sailing the high seas in a ship, denotes that you are still standing tall despite the emotional turmoil occurring in your life.
To dream that a ship has crashed or sunk, suggests that you are feeling emotionally out of control. You are expressing some fear or uncertainly within your emotional state. You are afraid of losing something close to you because of certain difficulties.
To dream that you abandon ship, indicates that you need to move on and let go. Your emotion may be holding you back. Alternatively, consider the phrase "jumping ship", to indicate changing of sides.
To dream of ships, foretells honor and unexpected elevation to ranks above your mode of life.
To hear of a shipwreck is ominous of a disastrous turn in affairs.
Your female friends will betray you.
To lose your life in one, denotes that you will have an exceeding close call on your life or honor.
To see a ship on her way through a tempestuous storm, foretells that you will be unfortunate in business transactions, and you will be perplexed to find means of hiding some intrigue from the public, as your partner in the affair will threaten you with betrayal.
To see others shipwrecked, you will seek in vain to shelter some friend from disgrace and insolvency.
Seeing a ship in your dream indicates that you are exploring aspects of your emotions and unconscious mind. The state and condition of the ship is indicative of your emotional state. If it is a cruise ship, then it suggests pleasant moods. If it is a warship, then you are experiencing feelings of aggression. Dreaming that you are sailing the high seas in a ship indicates that you are standing tall in times emotional turmoil. Dreaming that a ship crashed or is sinking, suggests that some aspect of your life is out of control You are expressing some fear or uncertainly within your emotional state. You are afraid of losing something close to you because of certain difficulties.
Bodies of water represent your unconscious, your emotions, and your accumulated soul experiences. The ship in your dream could represent you and the ways in which you navigate through these parts of yourself. When interpreting this dream, consider the kind of journey and the type of ship. Some dream interpretation books say that if the journey is calm you should go forward with your plans. However, if it is a very stormy journey, get ready for an emotional upset or challenge.
To dream that you are running away from someone, indicates an issue that you are trying to avoid. You are not taking or accepting responsibility for your actions. In particular, if you are running from an attacker or any danger, then it suggests that you are not facing and confronting your fears.
To dream that you are trying to run but cannot make your feet move as fast as you want them to, signifies lack of self-esteem and self-confidence. It may also reflect your actual state of REM paralysis during the dream state.
To dream that you are running alone, refers to your determination and motivation in the pursuit of your goals. You will find success and rise above those around you. Alternatively, the dream may mean that you need to hurry up in making a decision.
To dream that you are running with someone, signifies cooperation.
To dream of running in company with others, is a sign that you will participate in some festivity, and you will find that your affairs are growing towards fortune. If you stumble or fall, you will lose property and reputation.
Running alone, indicates that you will outstrip your friends in the race for wealth, and you will occupy a higher place in social life.
If you run from danger, you will be threatened with losses, and you will despair of adjusting matters agreeably. To see others thus running, you will be oppressed by the threatened downfall of friends.
To see stock running, warns you to be careful in making new trades or undertaking new tasks.
Dreaming that you are running away from someone indicates an issue that you are trying to avoid. You are not taking or accepting responsibility for your actions. In particular, if you are running from an attacker or any danger, then it suggests that you are not facing and confronting your fears. Dreaming that you are trying to run but cannot make your feet move as fast as you want them to means lack of self-esteem and self-confidence. It may also reflect your actual state of REM paralysis while in the dream state. Dreaming that you are running alone means that you will advance to a higher position and surpass your friends in the race for wealth. Alternatively, you may be running from some situation or from temptation. Dreaming that you are running with others means festive and prosperous times.
Dreaming of running competitively should be distinguished from dreams that have you running to or from something. If you are simply running with no goal, it may be an indication that you need to slow down in your every day life. If you are competing, you need to consider your recent rivalries and realistically look at the current challenges. If you are running in a race and win, your unconscious may be expressing confidence that you may or may not feel in the wakened state. Running in your dreams may also symbolise the energy levels, the strength, or the force that you have to get through life.
Given that water is the symbol of communication between the formal and
the informal, the element of transition between different cycles, yielding by
nature, and also related to the ideas of material, earthly fecundity and the Heraclitean
‘death of the soul’, it follows that ice represents principally two things: first, the
change induced in water by the cold—that is, the ‘congelation’ of its symbolic
significance; and, secondly, the stultification of the potentialities of water. Hence
ice has been defined as the rigid dividing-line between consciousness and the
unconscious (or between any other dynamic levels) (56). Although the negative
sense is predominant, it is not lacking in a positive sense in so far as the solidification is tantamount to toughness, and the coldness implies resistance to all that
is inferior; in this latter sense it corresponds to Nietzsche’s freezing and ‘hostile’
air of mountain-peaks.
To see ice in your dream, suggests that you are lacking a flow of ideas and thoughts. You are not seeing any progress in your life. Alternatively, you may be feeling emotionally paralyzed or rigid. You need to let your feelings be known.
To dream that you are walking on ice, indicates that you are standing on shaky or instable ground. You need to proceed with caution in some matter or situation. Alternatively, the dream also suggests that you are taking risks that you shouldn't be taking.
To dream that you slip on ice, symbolizes your insecurities and self-esteem issues. There may also be an obstacle ahead for you.
To dream that you fall through ice, suggests that your emotions are threatening to come crashing through.
To dream of ice, betokens much distress, and evil-minded persons will seek to injure you in your best work.
To see ice floating in a stream of clear water, denotes that your happiness will be interrupted by ill-tempered and jealous friends.
To dream that you walk on ice, you risk much solid comfort and respect for evanescent joys.
For a young woman to walk on ice, is a warning that only a thin veil hides her from shame.
To see icicles on the eaves of houses, denotes misery and want of comfort.
Ill health is foreboded.
To see icicles on the fence, denotes suffering bodily and mentally.
To see them on trees, despondent hopes will grow gloomier.
To see them on evergreens, a bright future will be overcast with the shadow of doubtful honors.
To dream that you make ice, you will make a failure of your life through egotism and selfishness.
Eating ice, foretells sickness. If you drink ice-water, you will bring ill health from dissipation.
Bathing in ice-water, anticipated pleasures will be interrupted with an unforeseen event.
Seeing ice in your dream, suggests that you are lacking a flow of ideas and thoughts. You are not seeing in progress in your life. Alternatively, you may be feeling emotionally paralyzed or rigid. You need to let your feelings be known. Dreaming that you are walking on ice indicates that you are standing on shaky or instable ground. You are taking risks that you shouldn't be taking. Fear and caution are also implied. Dreaming that you fall through ice, suggests that your emotions are threatening to come crashing through.
Ice, or water in the solid form, is associated with the emotions and the unconsciousness. Dreaming about ice suggests that you may have some emotions or denied psychological issues that are not readily accessible to you. These feelings may be negative. (I.e. fear and anxiety about death or sexual frigidity) Things that are frozen are generally not usable and they do not change or grow. This dream may be pointing to feelings or thoughts that are inaccessible to you or to that part of you that is inaccessible to others. Superstition based dream interpretation books tell us that sitting on ice in your dreams is a dream of the contrary. It indicates that you may have a life of comfort and prosperity.
To see your own feet in your dream, symbolizes your foundation, stability and sense of understanding. It signifies your need to be more practical and sensible. Keep both feet on the ground. Alternatively, feet represents mobility, independence and freedom. Perhaps you have taken a step in the right direction and are contemplating your goals or your next step. The sole of the foot may be a pun of being or feeling like the "sole" or only support of some person or situation.
Consider also the pun of "putting your foot in your mouth".
To dream that you are washing your feet, indicates that others can easily take advantage of you. For Christians, washing your feet symbolizes forgiveness and compassion. If someone is kissing your feet, then it symbolizes humbleness, humility, or devotion.
In particular for the people of India, to dream of the feet may symbolize divine qualities since the feet are considered the holiest part of the body.
To dream of seeing your own feet, is omnious{sic} of despair. You will be overcome by the will and temper of another. To see others' feet, denotes that you will maintain your rights in a pleasant, but determined way, and win for yourself a place above the common walks of life.
To dream that you wash your feet, denotes that you will let others take advantage of you.
To dream that your feet are hurting you, portends troubles of a humiliating character, as they usually are family quarrels.
To see your feet swollen and red, you will make a sudden change in your business by separating from your family. This is an evil dream, as it usually foretells scandal and sensation.
Seeing your own feet in your dream, symbolizes your foundation, stability and sense of understanding. It means your need to be more practical and sensible. Keep both feet on the ground. Alternatively, it represents mobility, independence and freedom. Perhaps you have taken a step in the right direction and are contemplating your goals or your next step. The sole of the foot may be a pun of being or feeling like the only support of some person/situation. Dreaming that you are washing your feet indicates that others can easily take advantage of you. In particular for the people of India, to dream of the feet may symbolize divine qualities since the feet are considered the holiest part of the body.
For some people, dreaming about feet can be a very sexy dream. Besides sexual connotations, the dreams can represent your ability to move forward in life. Dreams with feet in them point to how well you are balanced and grounded.
To dream of an oracle, symbolizes your belief of fate. You are seeking some guidance or are expressing a desire to know what the future has in stored for you. The dream also serves to offer reassurance needed for you to move forward and look ahead in a positive direction.
To dream that something or someone is thin, represents a lacking strength and integrity. You feel that you are unable to hold your own or stand up for yourself. Alternatively, the dream indicates flexibility and agility. You are able to adapt to any situation.
Of the four Elements, air and fire are regarded as active and male; water
and earth as passive and female. In some elemental cosmogonies, fire is given
pride of place and considered the origin of all things, but the more general belief is
that air is the primary element. Compression or concentration of air creates heat
or fire, from which all forms of life are then derived. Air is essentially related to
three sets of ideas: the creative breath of life, and, hence, speech; the stormy
wind, connected in many mythologies with the idea of creation; and, finally,
space as a medium for movement and for the emergence of life-processes. Light,
flight, lightness, as well as scent and smell, are all related to the general symbolism
of air (3). Gaston Bachelard says that for one of its eminent worshippers,
Nietzsche, air was a kind of higher, subtler matter, the very stuff of human
freedom. And he adds that the distinguishing characteristic of aerial nature is that
it is based on the dynamics of dematerialization. Thoughts, feelings and memories
concerning heat and cold, dryness and humidity and, in general, all aspects of
climate and atmosphere, are also closely related to the concept of air. According to
Nietzsche, air should be cold and aggressive like the air of mountain tops. Bachelard
relates scent to memory, and by way of example points to Shelley’s characteristic
lingering over reminiscences of smell.
To dream about the air, symbolizes creativity and intelligence. If the air is foggy or polluted, then it suggests that your thought process or mind is clouded.
To feel cold air in your dream, signifies discordance in your domestic relations and setbacks in your business affairs. You may be in danger of losing touch with reality.
To dream that you are breathing hot air, signifies the influence of evil around you.
This dream denotes a withering state of things, and bodes no good to the dreamer.
To dream of breathing hot air suggests that you will be influenced to evil by oppression.
To feel cold air, denotes discrepancies in your business, and incompatibility in domestic relations.
To feel oppressed with humidity, some curse will fall on you that will prostrate and close down on your optimistical views of the future.
Dreaming of inhaling unpleasant hot air might point to bad influences and bad forces at work against you, and cold air indicates some degree of failure professionally and emotionally.
To see land in your dream, represents your need to be more grounded or down to earth. You are looking for a strong foundation and some stability. Alternatively, the dream may be a metaphor for something that you have "landed" as in a job, a part in a play, etc.
To see rocky or barren land, denotes failure in your undertakings.
To dream of land, when it appears fertile, omens good; but if sterile and rocky, failure and dispondency is prognosticated.
To see land from the ocean, denotes that vast avenues of prosperity and happiness will disclose themselves to you.
Seeing land in your dream, represents nurturance and you need to be grounded. You are seeking for a strong foundation and some sort of stability. Seeing rocky or barren land indicates failure in your undertakings.
To see your own face in your dream, represents the persona you show to the world as oppose to the real you. It may refer to how you confront problems and deal with issues in your life.
To dream that your face is flawed or pimply, symbolizes erupting emotions. You may be suffering an attack on your persona or your reputation. According to folklore, if you dream that your face is swollen, then it means that you will see an improvement to your financial situation.
To dream that you or someone has two faces or that the faces changes quickly from one person to another, indicates untrustworthiness. You or someone in your life is acting "two-faced".
To dream that you are washing your face, suggests that you need to come clean about some matter.
This dream is favorable if you see happy and bright faces, but significant of trouble if they are disfigured, ugly, or frowning on you.
To a young person, an ugly face foretells lovers' quarrels; or for a lover to see the face of his sweetheart looking old, denotes separation and the breaking up of happy associations.
To see a strange and weird-looking face, denotes that enemies and misfortunes surround you.
To dream of seeing your own face, denotes unhappiness; and to the married, threats of divorce will be made.
To see your face in a mirror, denotes displeasure with yourself for not being able to carry out plans for self-advancement. You will also lose the esteem of friends.
Seeing your own face in your dream indicates the persona you choose to show to the world as oppose to the real you. It may refer to confrontations and your willingness to deal with problems and issues in your life. Dreaming that you face is flawed or pimply, represents erupting emotions. You may have suffered an attack on your persona or your reputation.