KILL

Example: ‘When inside the house I dream of recur­rently, I am terrified of someone, a man who is trying to find and kill me’ (Barbara T). As a young woman Barbara discov­ered the dead body of her father (he had shot himself) in the house of her dream. Being killed shows Barbara feeling over­whelmed by the feelings about her father—the man. Being killed: an interior or exterior influence which you feel is ‘kill­ing’—undermining, making ineffective, strangling, choking— one’s self confidence or sense of identity. Killing: repressing or stopping some aspect of oneself, as when we kill our love for someone. Killing parents, animals: see family; animals.

Example: ‘Some two weeks before my dear wife died of cancer of the oesophagus, at about three a.m. in the morning, she shot up in bed screaming “No. No! No!” On questioning her she said her mother, who had died in November 1981, was trying to kill her’ (Gerry B). In this unusual dream the wife feels the approach of death, depicted by her mother. As dreams suggest, death is as much a new area of experience as adolescence was, it would have helped the dreamer if she had taken time to develop a more positive relationship with her mother as described in dream processing.

See death.

If you dream that you kill someone, it means that you are facing a serious conflict between your desires and the moral principles that you are forced to follow. This dream also reveals the unconscious attempt to suppress part of your mind you do not accept; so you may be killing some aspect of your nature you dislike. A good example of this is the case of a man who dreams of killing a woman. The real reason is probably that he wants to reject his feminine side at all cost. Such dreams must be analyzed very carefully, as they reveal the need to deepen within ourselves and find some acceptable outlet in order to avoid a violent situation. The dream could also be motivated by a feeling negative toward someone, which leads you to let off steam in a dream.

There will be disputes and you will have to make sacrifices.

To kill someone or to be killed represents destroying parts of the self, killing off beliefs, behaviors or energies represented by the victim.

If you are killing a parent, you are getting rid of some of your outmoded parental behavior or the old way of relating to a parent.

If killing a child, you are destroying the child part of yourself or perhaps certain childish behaviors. Note whether killing male or female, old or young, and so on. Whether the aspects of self are useless and no longer needed or valuable and being denied, depends upon the dream context.

If you are being killed and bleeding, you are losing energy or the life force. Your own thoughts, actions or others in your life are taking your energy.

See Blood.