CITY

To see a city in your dream, whether you recognize it or not, signifies all the aspects of your social environment. The dream can also refer to your spiritual community, since a city was originally given its status because it had a cathedral. Dreaming of a city or town that is known to you refers to your sense of community or belonging to a group. In dreams, we often give clues as to what we require emotionally from our environment and streets that are totally empty or crowded with expressionless hurried people may emphasize a need for more intimacy. Dreams in which you are lost in a crowd can suggest the desire to blend in so attention is taken away from you. It can also indicate that you do not have a sense of your own identity at present or that you long to join a group of likeminded people.

If you have a dream set in an urban landscape, this is your dreaming mind’s way of exploring your social feelings and beliefs. It can also be an expression of your work and career aspirations. Alternatively, such dreams can also represent you as a person; as Jung pointed out, cities can be a symbol of the self. In particular, he noticed that in dreams the structure of a city is often symmetrical in the shape of a mandala. Jung interpreted mandalas as an expression of the fullness of the self and wholeness. According to Jung, every town and city that is mapped to a mandala format is an expression of the human desire for wholeness; in dreams, the pattern can remind dreamers that the path to happiness is not to be found in the city but within yourself.

To dream that you are in a deserted city or that you feel alienated from the activity of the city suggests that you feel rejected by those around you. To see a city in ruins denotes that you are neglecting your social relationships and allowing them to deteriorate. This dream image can also stand for the destruction or ideals and goals.

If the ruins are ancient, you may be yearning for an idealized past. A walled city may signify resistance to change and the refusal to accept or listen to new ideas. Alternatively, it may indicate a desire for seclusion so you can recharge your emotional or spiritual batteries. In contrast to the city, a dream set in a village may evoke a longing for simple and traditional values in waking life. It may be an attractive ideal for dreamers disillusioned with the rushed and impersonal nature of city life.

The city symbolizes the human psyche. Depending on how it is represented in the dream it indicates how things are in your mind.

If the city offers a beautiful spectacle it means that harmony reigns inside you. In case it is noisy and polluted, it is a clear indication that your ideas are altered by the internal chaos you are experiencing. On the other hand, the city can represent everything around you, including family and friends.

If you feel alone as you enter it in the dream, you can feel that way with your social role in reality.

If you dream that it is fortified with walls it will express your need for self- defense against outside threats; and a ruined city warns against neglected relationships. Finally, to get lost in the city shows your own existential loss.

Mythological cities usually have eight gates, one of which is sealed. Each door represents a change in your life; the eighth is the end of the trip, in other words, death.

(Knowledge, Town, Village) Entering a city in a dream means appeasement than leaving it.

A city in a dream also represents a learned person, a wise man and a scholar.

If one enters a city and finds it in ruins in his dream, it means that the learned people of that city no longer live there.

It is said that seeing a city in a dream means the death of its ruler or an unjust governor from that place. Seeing a city being built in a dream signifies the growing number of its learned people and represents children who will continue the path of their fathers. Seeing a city with no governor in a dream means rising prices.

An unknown city in a dream represents the hereafter, while a known city represents the world. Seeing oneself in an unknown city in a dream is also a sign of righteousness.

The best of cities in a dream are the large ones. One’s home town in a dream represents his father, while one’s homeland in a dream represents his mother. Seeing oneself in a northern city in a dream mean increase of one’s cash flow. Seeing oneself in a southern city means increase in one’s trickery and deception. Seeing oneself in a low plateau in a dream means difficulties and trouble, while seeing oneself in a high plateau means trustworthiness and truthfulness. Seeing oneself in Egypt in a dream means longevity and a comfortable living. Seeing oneself in a farmland in a dream means pursuing innovation. Seeing oneself in a bower in a dream signifies the coming of a prosperous year. Seeing oneself in Jerusalem or at the feet of Mount Sinai in a dream also means prosperity. Seeing oneself in Bethlehem in a dream means increased religious devotion. Seeing oneself in Damascus in a dream means blessings, prosperity and wealth, or it could mean corruption.

A cold city in a dream represents adversities. Seeing oneself in a shore city in a dream means winning people’s acceptance. Standing on a sulfuric soil or a salinized soil in a dream means an illness. Seeing oneself in a large and populated city in a dream means prosperity and wealth. Entering a city in a dream also means making peace between people. Driving through an unknown section of a city in a dream means losses. Entering an old city that is rebuilt and restored in a dream means that a great and a pious person will be born in that city and he will grow to guide its people on the path of righteousness.

A city in a dream also signifies an oath, meeting with one’s beloveds, peace, tranquility and safety. Meeting with Godfearing people in a dream means attaining one’s goals and receiving glad tidings. Seeing the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in a dream means adversities, earthquake, fear and corruption. Seeing a city in a dream also could mean repentance from sin. Aprovince in a dream represents its governor or renowned scholars. Governing a city in a dream means rising to a suitable position, getting married, recovering from an illness, repenting from sin, or receiving guidance at the hand of a learned shaikh. Seeing a deceased person walking alive in a city in a dream perhaps means that he is in paradise enjoying its blessings. Seeing a deceased person in a village in a dream means that he might be in hell laboring with its people.

A city in a dream also represents the entertainment it provides for its dwellers.

The name of a city one sees in a dream should reflect some of the meanings of one’s dream.

(See Introduction).

The industry of a city also has a share in the dream interpretation. Known cities in the world in a dream represent their rulers. Entering a city one already knows in a dream means that one will not die until he enters it again, or it could mean that he will receive news from that city.

The walls of a city represent a strong ruler.

A demolished wall of a city in a dream signifies the death of its ruler or his removal from office.

If one sees a flourishing city with its urban construction, factories and farms, his dream will reflect the spiritual awareness and religious devotion of its people.

(Also see Village)