A Dictionary of Dream Symbols

by Eric Ackroyd
Cut(ting)

(see also Knot)

AS WITH A KNIFE

Cutting hair or a hand or some other part of the body may symbolize (preparation for, or need for) passing from one phase or manner of life to another, from one set of values and goals to another. (Compare traditional initiation rites and rites of passage. For instance, in a boy’s initiation to manhood the cutting - of hair, or face or whatever - was a symbolic killing of the boy-ness as a pre-condition for the emergence of man-ness.) NB The second phase is ahvays fuller than the first.

(2) Any cutting of a part of the body may symbolize castration. In a man’s dream this may express anxiety about his masculinity or sexuality. In a woman’s dream the focus may be on her (hidden) masculinity, or her resentment of sexual discrimination in favour of men.

See also Castration.

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(3) If something is cut in half, this may symbolize a separation - for example, of those qualities of your psyche that belong to your original individual ground-plan from those that belong to the ego.

RAILWAY CUTTING

(4) A railway cutting may be a sexual symbol representing the vagina. A train passing through it would symbolize the sexual act.

Complete Dictionary of Dreams

by Dr. Mıchael Lennox
A cut is evidence of wounding; protection that is instinctive.

The skin is the largest organ of the human body, comprising three layers. Its primary function is to separate the outside and inside of the body, offering a mildly protective shell for the tissue beneath it. Cuts in the skin hinder the effectiveness of that protection, and the body quickly responds to any injury it may sustain.

A cut leaves a mark that is the evidence of the wound. Whether the wound occurs in the dream or appears to have already happened in the past indicates where you are in the process of responding to some hurtful moment in life.

(See Wound(s).) 

The Element Encyclopedia

by Theresa Cheung
To dream that you have a cut suggests that you are being let down or being undervalued.

If the cuts are on your legs, then it symbolizes an imbalance and an inability to stand up for yourself. To dream that you are cutting or harming yourself in some way, either accidentally or on purpose, indicates that you are experiencing some overwhelming turmoil or problems in your waking life. You are trying to disconnect yourself from the discomfort or pain you are experiencing.