Forests in Dreams

The forest as a place of magic and danger is found it has played an essential role in legends, myths, and fairy tales. Dreaming about a forest contrasts the urban city life with what is unseen or forgotten.

The dreamer’s presence in the woods is a bridge to the unknown or unconscious parts of the mind.

Inside the forest in your dream lies the key to a higher level of awareness. This is why we often enter this magical realm at night, or perhaps alone, as we stumble across many clues embedded deep in the landscape.

“In the middle of our walk of life, I found myself within a forest dark, for the straightforward pathway had been lost.”
Dante, The Divine Comedy

Forest Dream Meaning

In most mythology and folklore, the forest is a place that we are taught to fear or beware of what lies inside of it. It is inhabited by unknown forces, magical people, primeval creatures, or scary predators. In countless tales, forests are the places young kids get lost and come out as adults. Could you be on the same journey in your dream?

This forbidden path in your dream represents a transition phase that is taking place in your life right now. The forest in our dreams connects you to the unknown part of you, or what we would like to say the divine feminine energy, Mother Earth, or Yin Energy. She has the ability to guide you to the treasure or eat you up and spit you out.

Forest Dreaming Symbolism

Dreams symbols have a unique ability to send message in terms of metaphors and symbols. The forest is not a forest, but a dark place where you go to lose your soul and regain it on the other side. You may encounter the following symbolism when surrounded by these dark trees in your dreams.

• Renewal
• Death and rebirth
• Feminine
• Testing
• Transformation
• Hidden knowledge
• Unknown perils and darkness

Did you know that the forest has a deep connection “The Mother”, a place behind you where life thrives. This is a place represented in mythology and folklore that is opposite to your comfort zone, how did it appear in your dreams? Was the forest dark or was the forest green in your dream? Its close connection with your childhood bedtime stories – a dangerous place if you get lost, harboring with all kinds of dangers and demons.

The forest represents what is unknown to you that connects you back to the Mother archetype, its layout or blueprint so to speak reflects your own unconscious feminine energy that needs exploring.

Forest Dreams: The Unknown

Deep in the woods the suns light cannot penetrate its surface as the fragrance of death is watching your every turn. Does the forest look enchanting or dark? The more the mystery the closer connection you might have with your unconscious.

The forest is a mirror of personal transformation, as a caterpillar evolves into a butterfly; you are going though a transition stage. Due to its unconscious nature this shift might not be necessarily known to you yet.

Similar to the classic stages of a hero’s journey, the forest represents a call to adventure. Their terrain presents obstacles, guides, and a beginning and end. Forest can appear many times in our lives when we are in the process of finding something deep within ourselves.

Haunted Forest Dream Meaning

The haunted forest in your dream represents avoidance of entering the repressed fears and unconscious feelings in your life.  Like most things that metaphorically possess us in our dreams, this has more to do with things that “haunt” you on a day to day basis.

If you dream of paranormal events in the forest, that is an even bigger clue that something is trying to get your attention so you can address it.

Forest Dreams: Did You Know?

1. More than 250 million people live in the forest.
2. The largest area of forest in the tropics remain the Amazon Basin, amounting to 79.1 million acres.
3. 70% of the world’s animals depends on forests for their homes.
4. Forests cover three billion hectares of the Earth’s surface.
5. More than 25% of the medicines we use originate in rain forests plants.
6. A man from India started planting trees when he was 16-years-old. He’s 47 now and lives in his own forest with rhinos, tigers and elephants.
7. They are an ecosystem which includes many plants and animals.
8. In Japan, doctors would tell their patients “Forest therapy” to treat depression and anxiety.
9. At least 20% of the Earth’s oxygen is produced by Amazon Forest.
10. About 80% of the Earth’s original forests have been cleared or destroyed.
11. They can exist from the equator to near the polar regions, but different climates have different kinds of forests.