The Dictionary of Symbols
All combats are the expression of a conflict of some sort. A great many
fights, dances and simulacra are rites, or the vestiges of rites, which express
situations of conflict. In Sweden, according to Eliade, combats are enacted on
horseback by two sets of riders personifying winter and summer. Usener ascribed
a similar meaning to the combat between Xanthos and Melanthos—the fair one
and the dark one. On the other hand, the struggle may correspond to the primordial, cosmogonic sacrifice, such as the sacrifice of Tiamat (or Tiawath) by Marduk.
Struggles between the gods of vegetation and of drought (such as Osiris and Set)
or between good and evil (Ahuramazda and Ahriman or Angramainyu, for example) modify the plane of conflict accordingly. Broadly speaking, the struggle is
that of generation or involves antithetically opposed elements (17). For our part,
we would suggest that the combats of Roman gladiators reflected an ancestral,
mythic and symbolic background with the retiarius (or net-fighter) as the counterpart of Neptune and Pisces (symbolic of the celestial ocean, and the all-embracing god armed with the trident, as a sign of triple power, and with the net);
likewise, the mirmillo was Cancer (the sun, or the son armed with a sword).
10,000 Dreams Interpreted
To dream that you engage in a fight, denotes that you will have unpleasant encounters with your business opponents, and law suits threaten you.
To see fighting, denotes that you are squandering your time and money.
For women, this dream is a warning against slander and gossip.
For a young woman to see her lover fighting, is a sign of his unworthiness.
To dream that you are defeated in a fight, signifies that you will lose your right to property.
To whip your assailant, denotes that you will, by courage and perseverance, win honor and wealth in spite of opposition.
To dream that you see two men fighting with pistols, denotes many worries and perplexities, while no real loss is involved in the dream, yet but small profit is predicted and some unpleasantness is denoted.
To dream that you are on your way home and negroes attack you with razors, you will be disappointed in your business, you will be much vexed with servants, and home associations will be unpleasant.
To dream that you are fighting negroes, you will be annoyed by them or by some one of low character.
