A Dictionary of Dream Symbols

by Eric Ackroyd
What applies to a church may apply equally to a temple or a circle of stones or any other sacred place.

(1) A church may symbolize the self, the totally integrated psyche, with all its elements organized as a harmonious whole centred on whatever, in terms of your individual personality and ‘destiny5.

constitutes the supreme value of truth. (For self)

The image may therefore be taken as a sign that your unconscious is urging you to ‘centre” yourself, to put an end to the fragmentation which results in your going off in opposite directions; to ‘pull yourself together” in the almost literal sense of unifying all the currently conflicting parts of you into a creative and fulfilling collaboration or commingling.

Other buildings - a house, or just a room - may represent your psyche. The fact that your dream presents the psyche in the image of a church means that you are being invited to perceive the self as something sacred - that is, something of supreme value and perhaps in some way transcendent.

(2) The church may symbolize, not the total psyche, but some most valuable (‘sacred”) part of it which holds the meaning of your life - the key to your true destiny.

(3) In primitive times a sacred place was regarded as the birthplace of the tribe’s original - divine - ancestor(s). In the same way, your dream image of a sacred place may be a reminder that you are not a worthless creature living a meaningless life; that vour self is a divine reality’, something of supreme value and to be taken with the utmost seriousness; that you are not only to love yourself but also to revere yourself.

(4) The church - or what is going on inside it, or how you in the dream are reacting - may represent your feelings about religion or about some institutionalized form of religion.

(5) For church crypt see Cave, Cellar.

(6) Is there someone in the church - a priest or (other) holy person, or someone you love dearly and respect deeply (father or elder brother, for instance)? If so, the figure may represent the self, the part of you that transcends the ego (for self).

See also Wise Old Man / Woman.

The Bedside Dream Dictionary

by Silvana Amar
Dreaming about being in a church is more common than most people realize. Each week I get several requests to add church to the dictionary. This may be so due to the fact that most of us went to church as children. From a very early age we had to go to church and were taught that there was a God. This was important in our life and to our families. Dreaming about churches, cathedrals, synagogues, or any other place of worship may represent our childhood associations with religion. At times, the dream may be a muddled childhood memory.

The church could represent a need for greater spirituality in the dreamer’s life. It may express religious beliefs, everyday occurrences, issues of safety, security and strength through community and religious expression. None of us can escape the age-old questions, “Who am I?” and, “What is the meaning of life?”. Coping with our own physical mortality is a very big deal. Both our conscious, and unconscious minds are continually working and bringing issues of relevance and concern into our awareness. Think about the details of your dream and make an attempt to honestly understand its meaning.

Islamic Dream Interpretation

by Ibn Seerin
For a Christian person, seeing a church in a dream signifies a house of worship, religion, knowledge, devotion, work, ascetic detachment, fear of wrongdoing, penance, lamentation and it could mean crying.

A church in a dream also could mean distress, trouble, slander, innovation, injustice, a business club, a meeting house, bingo, wine, alcoholic consumption, communion, weddings or a wife. In a dream, a church also can represent its parish, diocese, ministry, clergyman or a chaplain.

If one sees a church turned into a synagogue, or a synagogue turned into a church in a dream, it means mistrust, an argument, or a scheme for tax evasion. Seeing oneself in a synagogue in a dream means that one may become a Jew.

If one’s house turns into a church in a dream, it means that he will bring its business to his house, or it may mean a fight with one’s boss. Seeing a church in a dream also denotes a cemetery, confession, a prostitute, a music house or a place of confinement. Ifa woman sees herself attending a wedding or a funeral service at a church in a dream, it may mean the same in wakefulness.

(Also see Cincture, Temple)