Dreaming Of Killing

The judge slams gavel down”You are now found guilty of murder”… You might be free to go in your walking life, but in your dream realm you just committed an grievous act.

Did you know that mentioning killing someone in your dream is considered a taboo subject and is often pushed under the rug. In fact these vivid dreams make such an impact on the dreamer that the image of killing someone lingers in your head for months and even years.

It is not unusual to dream of killing animals or reptiles, but these dreams can take a left turn as we might kill off a random person; or worse yet a family member.

So why do we experiences these horrific dreams? Their has been multiple studies on this controversial subject yet we are still trying to come up with reason why this occurs. Maybe this is just a random dream – or – Perhaps this is what the Germans call “hintergedanken” is a thought way, way, way in the back of your mind.

Killing In Dreams

We would like to explore some of the possibilities on why you may wanted to kill something in your dream.  A group of researchers used questionnaires finding a link between people who kill in their dream often tend to be hostile, introverted, and don’t usually get along with people while awake. But does this match your description?

This was disputed by by the professor  G. William Domhoff, a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He noted that questionnaires are not accurate measure of dream content.

A new research was conducted by Michael Schredl at the Central Institute of Mental Health’s sleep laboratory in Mannheim, Germany, suggest dreams are often an amplification of what happens during waking life. He tends to think that if you are aggressive in your walking life it will come out in your dreams.

Repressed Anger?

Interestingly enough the study did conclude a greater number of aggressive dreams were found more in male subjects as opposed to women. Could it imply that men have trouble expressing their feelings or emotions thus coming out in our dreams?

It seems awfully close to what Sigmund Freud suggested that dreams are a representation a disguised fulfillment of a repressed wish. Does this dream suggest you are extremely angry at the person or this is what you truly want to do in real life?

I question what happens when you are naked in your dream, does that mean you want to be a flasher in your walking life? Perhaps my teeth falling out has to do with me not brushing rigorously twice a day. Or maybe the next time I have a lucid dream of flying implies I should just jump out of the window to test my hidden skills…Get my point!

Unconscious Desires?

I remember one night years ago I had a dream about killing my father, I would leave out the graphic details, but I can assure you it was extremely disturbing. At the time I had this dream I was dumbfounded, though like most of my dreams it usually takes months or years down the road to fully understand its meaning.

As someone who uses a dream journal it helps bring up unconscious behaviors or repressed feelings that are held deep inside. Does this mean I wanted to kill my father? Absolutely not! The sheer fact alone would only turn my stomach.

Killing or Integrating?

My dream however was hinting at something that was far beyond my understand at the very moment, I was yet to understand the bigger picture. It was only until after that I started to do rigorous self examination it dawned on my that I was trying to remove or kill off similar negative traits that were part of me.

These were undesirable behaviors and a moody disposition that I started to notice and tackle later on in my life knowing it was somewhat connected to my shadow. I guess that is why I was using a knife in my dream to metaphorically remove or dismember the parts that I personally rejected within.

One thing I noticed after recording my dreams for many years is the fact that the images are often presented metaphorically despite its vivid nature – sometimes the message is a bitter pill to swallow.

I am more on the side of Carl Jung who believed dreams are doing the work of integrating our conscious and unconscious lives; he called this the process of individuation – becoming complete individual. We can use the contents of our dreams to better help understand thing within us we are not aware of. By shining light on the darkness you become more of an integrated person.

The Shadow: Our Dark Side

Carl Jung also spoke about the shadow side that every human being carries around with him or her. This is the unwanted or rejected parts of their personality that never seem to be acknowledged.

These repressed feelings, behaviors or urges are often manifested in our dreams as snakes, spiders, or maybe a faceless attacker that is chasing you. If this is the case wouldn’t killing be considered a positive symbol.

The act of killing then becomes metaphoric relating to removing things in your life that once posed an internal issue. Depending what and who your are killing and with what can be translated metaphorically.

The Good News

Often times in dreams we are confronted by scary figures that make us run away. In life when you develop teeth or stand up for yourself you will notice that your dreams will change. Alternatively you might just end up killing something in self defense or something that is gross or troublesome. Here is a list of positive images that are actually considered positive omens to kill.

• Rats or mice,
• Insects or cockroaches,
• Spiders or snakes,
• Unknown attacker.

Animals that are killed in dreams can be looked at our feminine/masculine unconscious urges, traits, behaviour or instincts that no longer threaten us. Killing rodents in your dreams bring your attention to pestering or troublesome thoughts or people in your life.

Just because you may have killed someone you love or a friend in your dream doesn’t necessarily suggest it is bad omen. You might reflect some of the undesirable traits that they possess that might be in you. Death is commonly associated with transitions or rebirths regrading a major shift in your life.

Killing Snakes

Many people search the web to find out the meaning behind killing a snake. These are very positive dream symbols that suggest you have removed a threat in your life – this can be both an unconscious behaviour, or related to someone in your walking life. Some even suggest that killing a snake represents a union or marriage of some sort, however this would be hard to determine.