WEAPONS

Weapons in dreams appear for numerous reasons. They are associated with aggression and hostility towards someone, perhaps you. They can be a warning that you need to take defensive action against something or someone that poses a real threat to you. They may also represent a secret desire within you to hurt someone.

If you dream of using a weapon against someone, do you harbor hidden anger and aggression that you have not expressed in waking life? If you do not know the person you are attacking, your weapon and victim may be symbolic representations of aspects of yourself you do not like or find hard to deal with. You may have inner conflicts that need to be resolved, or ‘killed off’.

If so, what does your unknown victim look like, and how does he, she or it react to the threat? All this may provide you with important clues.

If you have a weapon used against you in a dream this may suggest that you have done something to upset people around you or it may be that you feel you have become the victim of circumstances.

If you are shot in the dream, this may be referring to internalized aggression, past hurt or a fear of being hurt.

According to Freud, almost every weapon is a phallic symbol and many dream researchers still subscribe to this view.

If a man dreams he is attacking a woman with a weapon or hunting a woman, it may reveal an equivocal attitude towards women. A woman who dreams of being attacked may be expressing sexual insecurity or a fear of men. Weapons or firearms that malfunction in dreams or fail to work may indicate a sense of powerlessness to handle challenges in daily life. They may also suggest anxiety about sexual performance or an inability to express ideas confidently to other people.

If a work tool or other object is used as an offensive weapon, this suggests a skill or authority that has turned against you, as might happen if a teacher was taking advantage of a pupil. The atmosphere of the dream will provide the best clue for analysis, but ancient dream oracles suggest that this dream generally means you have enemies who pretend to be friends. In other words, ‘watch your back’.

1- To dream of weapons usually suggests our desire to hurt someone or something. We have internalised our aggression and it is marginally more acceptable to dream of wreapons and of using them against people, than actually having to deal with such circumstances in everyday life. Depending on the weapon that we use we may get a fairly good idea of what the real problem is in the waking self.

An arrow indicates being pierced by some kind of powerful emotion, of being hurt by someone else through words or actions. We need to turn our attention inwards in order to make ourselves feci better, flic gun or pistol traditionally represents male sexuality and for a woman to dream of being shot often indicates her wish for, or fear of, sexual aggression.

If we are shooting the gun ourselves we may be using our masculine abilities in quite an aggressive way; in order to defend ourselves.

A knife represents the ability to cut through debris, to ‘cut into’ whatever is bothering us and to cut out the hypocrisy that perhaps is prevailing in a situation.

The sword has more than one meaning. Because of its hilt — which is a cross shape it often represents a system of belief which is used in a powerful way. Equally it can be used to suggest spiritual strength, creating an abilitv to cut awav the unneccssary more powerfully than the knife.

The sword when sheathed is the soul or the Self in the bodv.

2- To have a weapon used against us means that we have to look at how we are party to people being aggressive around us. It maybe that we have done something to upset the other person which results in aggression, or it may be that we have put ourselves in a position of becoming the victim of circumstance.

3- Various weapons can suggest varying degrees of spiritual power.

The dreamer should use this power with relevant caution.

Psychological / emotional perspective: To have a weapon used against us means that we have to look at how we are party to people being aggressive around us. It may be that we have done something to upset the other person, which results in aggression, or it may be that we have put ourselves in a position of becoming the victim of circumstance. Different weapons have various meanings: an arrow indicates being pierced by some kind of powerful emotion, of being hurt by someone else through words or actions. In order to make ourselves feel better we must turn our attention inwards.

The gun or pistol traditionally represents male sexuality and for a woman to dream of being shot often indicates her thoughts about sexual aggression.

If we are shooting the gun ourselves we may be using our masculine abilities in quite an aggressive way, in order to defend ourselves.

A knife represents the ability to cut through debris, to ‘cut into’ whatever is bothering us and to cut out the hypocrisy that perhaps is prevailing in a situation.

The sword has more than one meaning. Because of its hilt – which is a cross shape – it often represents a system of belief that is used in a powerful way. Equally it can be used to suggest spiritual strength, creating an ability to cut away the unnecessary more powerfully than the knife.

The sword when sheathed is the soul or the self in the body.