What are river dreams about?
Rivers are natural streams of water. They often run from places of higher elevation to places of lower elevation. There is constant change and flow in rivers. This symbol is identified by words like river, stream, and creek.
Rivers in dreams is a relatively uncommon dream symbol, occuring in about 2.0% of dreams. That's about 1 out of every 50 dreams.
What are the major highlights of river dreams?
Rivers is a normal dream symbol. Having rivers in a dream changes the dream in the same way as most other dream symbols.
What symbols more present in dreams of rivers?
River dreams are notable because they have substantially more Algeria, water, swimming, bridges, banks, wilderness, verbs, jungles, pheasants, mermaids, rocks, boats, movement, talismans, borders, antlers, cliffs, mountains, natural things, spring, canoes, forests, alligators, floods, kayaks, east, natural places, trees, crocodiles, fish, harpoons, elements of earth, tents, drowning, soil, paths, west, things, lakes, farmers, hills, Morocco, Kuwait, qualities, descending, journeys, edges, constructing, south, general movement, floating, villages, autumn, baboons, Nepal, north, places of transit, climbing, safety, and spheres than 95% of other dream symbols.
What symbols less present in dreams of rivers?
River dreams are notable because they have substantially less car crashes, bedrooms, sleep paralysis, infidelity, authors, boyfriends, recurring nightmares, seeing a dead relative, teeth falling out, crushes, seeing a dead mother, pregnancy, paralysis, loss of speech, giving birth, cancer, recurring dreams, elements of water, places, bodies of water, natural elements, abortions, broken glass, seeing a dead father, former partners, coffee, social media, snapchat, subconscious, couches, nightmares, surgery, lucid dreams, seeing a dead grandfather, kittens, trying to scream, sleeping, seeing a dead pet, flirting, sex, lockers, beds, laundry rooms, sexuals acts, and raping than 95% of other dream symbols.
How does the dream symbol of rivers affect the different aspects of a dream?
Explore different elements related to dreams of rivers
Who is in rivers dreams?
Overall, dreams with rivers are less related to characters in dreams. Specifically, dreams of rivers are more related to animals and more related to insects than dreams in general. They are less related to family.
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What are the emotions in rivers dreams?
Overall, dreams with rivers are aren't really related to emotions in dreams. Specifically, dreams of rivers are more related to grief and sorrow than dreams in general. They are less related to confusion.
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Who is in rivers dreams?
Overall, dreams with rivers are much more related to places in dreams. Specifically, dreams of rivers are more related to transportation and much more related to natural places than dreams in general.
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How do rivers in dreams related to other dream phenomenon?
Overall, dreams with rivers are less related to dream events in dreams. Specifically, dreams of rivers are less related to lucid dreams, less related to nightmares, and less related to sleep paralysis.
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How can you make sense of rivers in dreams?
River dreams are relatively uncommon. Among other things river dreams are normally interconnect.
Do you think this is true for your dream of rivers? How might your dream of rivers be different?
All dreams have meaning
You can gain insight from thinking about any dream, no matter how strange. Only you, as the dreamer, have final say on what your dream may or may not mean. Each dream is unique.
Look for the differences
The DreamWell dictionary provides information on how each dream symbol appears in dreams in general. Finding how experience rivers in dreams can be a key to understanding its meaning.
Return to the feelings
Our emotions in dreams can help us understand its meaning. Pay attention to how you felt in the dream. Pay attention to how you feel about rivers in dreams. See how you feel about rivers now, in your waking life.
What are possible meanings for dreams of rivers?
A river is, essentially, an obstacle, and trying to cross a river in a dream is a strong indicator of trying to get past an obstacle. The condition of the river, whether raging or calm or in between, and its size can indicate how much of a challenge the obstacle presents.
For instance, a student graduating from law school must pass his bar exam before starting work. He dreams about traveling through a city before coming to a bridge over a raging river. Crossing the bridge is perilous, but he makes it to the other side, symbolizing passing the bar exam so he can take a job that has already been offered on contingency. It’s what’s waiting for him on the other side of the river, and the bar is his bridge to getting there. The dream predicts his success with the exam—he knows he’s well prepared—and indeed he passes it.
The conditions of the river have many other potential uses as symbolism through comparison. For example, a rushing brown river can symbolize diarrhea. Rapids can symbolize rapid progress or pace to life or some aspect of it. It can mean you’re in rough water figuratively. Standing on the other side of a river from someone you know can show that something stands between you and that person, and/or there’s a division in your mind related to him or her. It can mean a difference of opinion or outlook.
The same ideas apply to standing across from a group of people. You’re far apart from them about something.
Rivers have currents, and “current” in dream-speak can mean the flow of life, the direction you’re headed, the natural progression of things. You can go with the flow or against it.
Going with the flow shows you are in harmony—in your life in general, or in a specific aspect of it. For example, a harmonious marriage can be like a calm river. On the other hand, a stormy marriage can be symbolized as a raging river.
Going against the current can be a way of saying you wish to go in another direction. You don’t like where things are headed. You want your own way. Or, you resist the natural progression. You’re going against your instincts. The symbolism shows in the actions involving the river, and your actions and reactions as a dream character in the story.
A river can be an analogy for the course of your life, with stops representing its phases and stages—school days, getting married, starting a career, having your first child, retirement. The river connects these points of reference. Rivers are used for travel, too, adding another layer to use as symbolism, because travel and movement in dreams can symbolize the movement of your life, its progress or lack of it. The symbolism will show in your movement along the river, or a view of it.
A river that splits can mean facing a decision, especially one that means your life will split off in a new direction.
Family is like a river, with your immediate family as the main waterway. Rivers combine to form bigger ones, and families combine through marriage to form bigger families. Day-to-day life with family can be like floating together on a river.
Time progresses like a river. The pace of travel on a river makes it a good symbol for watching the days and nights flow by. See: Time, Time travel
A river can symbolize your emotions. They flow. They move. And the condition of the water can say a lot about the state of your emotions. See: Water
Drowning in a river can mean that something about your life is too much—too much work, too much responsibility, too much turmoil, too much sadness or disappointment, too much emotion.
A meandering river is a great metaphor for a meandering life.
And of course, your personal experiences come into play. An experience such as almost drowning in a river can create a strong impression that’s likely to be used at some point in your life by your dreams, perhaps years later, as a way of comparing to some other sort of jeopardy in which you find yourself. Or a river in a dream can be a way of referencing an incident from your life.
For example, a man dreams about a cold ghost, which just got out of a river, getting into his bed with him. It references the time as a child when he caught typhoid after swimming in a river. The illness made him deathly cold like the ghost, and he almost died and became a ghost himself! Ghosts are associated with the past, too, and he had the dream many years after the incident.
See also: Boats, Bridges, Calendars, Captains, Drowning, Floods, Journeys, Roads, Time, Time travel, Water
This interpretation is from ""The Dream Interpretation Dictionary: Symbols, Signs, and Meanings" and is provided by J.M. DeBord aka "RadOwl". He is the author of several acclaimed books about dreaming, the host of The Dreams That Shape Us podcast, and is a moderator of r/Dreams, one of the largest dream sharing communities on the internet.
Examples of dreams of rivers
Read some real dream reports of river dreams.. These real life dream reports come from the moderated dream sharing communities of Reddit including r/Dreams, r/Nightmares, r/DreamInterpretation, or r/thisdreamihad. Please note that some of these may contain graphic, sexual, or violent images and text. Use the source link for each dream to view and join the discussion of each one.
I dreamt about fucking the devil
I was swimming against this rivers strong current. It felt like the rivers was a person. Suddenly it stilled, like it was thinking of a better way to “get” me. It started dragging me down like an anchor. Theriversr was murky but there was this red glow at the bottom. I finally landed on my knees and the red glow turned out to be this guy painted red laying on his back with huge horns growing from his forehead (twas the detail lady’s and gents). And this bitch had the audacity to like Jedi-force my body into fucking him until I slowly melted away.
I was swimming against this rivers strong current. It felt like the rivers was a person. Suddenly it stilled, like it was thinking of a better way to “get” me....
Source | Show dream
I think I went to real afterlife place in my dream
When I was a child about 25 years ago I had this dream. That time I had no knowledge of afterlife, death etc.
So in this dream I was standing in this vast flat ground which had I think brown sand bordered by a rocky hill and on the other side was a huge calm river. There was a looong line of people starting beyond the rocky hill and till the river. For a brief moment I walked by the line and saw people's faces. They did not see me, they did not have any expression in their faces and stood in a droopy stance but I could sense some sadness. I don't think the line was moving very quickly. On the river, a single boat was taking one person each time across.
Near the line I saw a gazebo. Some beings took me there. I was not afraid of them because they looked like masked people (from the mask dance at monasteries, you can google mask dance of Sikkim to know what the beings looked like). They all were doing silly things and I was laughing my heart out which made them very happy. Until one tall being with a "Heman" like hair cut was shaking his head in a funny way while I was laughing and I noticed is stick like torso. At that moment I realised that these were not mask men but real creatures and that scared me to wake.
When I was a child about 25 years ago I had this dream. That time I had no knowledge of afterlife, death etc.
So in this dream I was standing in this vast...
Source | Show dream
How I finally beat the "being chased" dream
Like many people I had the recurring dream of being chased by a dark figure, it was a shadow in a trench coat, no facial features just shadow. I began having the dream when I was in elementary school and had it until just less than a year ago. It always went the same, I was running through my house, or my high school or my hometown and he was always right behind, the dream would either end with me falling off a building or bridge or him getting right up to me and reaching out with a shadowy claw and me waking up screaming.
Well I reached a low point in my life, had broken up with my girlfriend and just had a lot going on at work and school. I was fed up with life in general (NOT suicidal, just to the point I had very few "F's" left to give). Had an especially bad day and went to bed, the "dark figure" dream started, but instead of being terrified as I always had been before, I just got fighting mad. I was done with it! If he was going to kill me then so be it, but I was going to give him one hell of a fight! I remembering turning toward him and charging full bore right into him, all fear was gone there was only utter rage, I wanted to rip him limb from limb. I had the general dream sensation of wrestling around...and realized I wasn't hurting him....but he wasn't hurting me either, he was slashing me with shadowy claws but I felt absolutely no pain. Then I remember staring him right in the shadowy void that should have been his face and just laughing, laughing harder than I had ever laughed. I woke up laughing so hard tears were streaming down my face. But the thing is I felt much better. Not only about the dream but life in general, my mood had improved a hundred fold. I felt ready to take on the world!
After that the dark figure made a several more appearances, but the terror was gone, I might feel a tinge of fear when he first appeared, but I would quickly get over it and stand my ground and think "you ready for round 2 buddy? I know you can't do a damn thing to me" and he would fade away.
Like many people I had the recurring dream of being chased by a dark figure, it was a shadow in a trench coat, no facial features just shadow. I began having...
Source | Show dream
Dream of Water Moccasin
I had a dream where I was swimming in a murky river/lake. I’m not sure why I was in there but I was swimming to the shore to get out. It felt like I wasn’t supposed to be swimming there. Behind me, I noticed a green snake swimming toward me. I thought he was going to lunge at me, so I grab him by the head/neck and he opened his mouth real wide like he was trying to bite me. I held him for a second, realized he was unable to bite me how I was holding him, and than I threw him and tried to get to the shore. He came back and swam after me and I was getting stuck trying to get out of the shallow muddy water before the shore. I was scared the snake was going to bite me and I felt sincere panic. But dream me was able to get on the shore without being bitten. Any thoughts? I appreciate anyone who reads this
I had a dream where I was swimming in a murky river/lake. I’m not sure why I was in there but I was swimming to the shore to get out. It felt like I wasn’t...
Source | Show dream
Just woke up feeling so guilty :(
Such a bad dream. I was at the river, there was an event going on with a ton of people. A kid came up to me and showed me their guinea pig, which I played with for a while. Then I had to leave and the kid traded for their pet tarantula. As I held it, I just thought it was the cutest thing ever. When I got home I put it in the aquarium (where another tarantula lived but for some reason I thought my bf had let it out to wander around? Idk). Then I realized both tarantulas were now in the aquarium and I felt a sudden panic, cause I knew my bf's tarantula was hungry. Before I could save the new spider the other one was doing her happy dance (that she does after she eats) and she attacked. I watched in horror as she killed the other one. They didnt even fight, she just pounced and sunk her fangs into it :( at one point they were both wandering around and I was like oh thank god, I gotta get it out. Then it was as if she had dialogue and I could hear her say, I thought I killed you, and knock the other one down and "stab" it with her fangs. I just thinking omg I'm gonna have to replace this kids spider.
Anyway then I woke up feeling horrible and uneasy. There was more to the dream, including a large man stealing a lot of stuff from the people at the river, and when I told him "fuck you" he said a really funny comeback about me not being fuckable. I wish I could remember it exactly.
Thanks for reading, just wanted to jot this down lol
Such a bad dream. I was at the river, there was an event going on with a ton of people. A kid came up to me and showed me their guinea pig, which I played with...
Source | Show dream
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