In our dreams LIONS are commonly known to represent strength, courage, assertiveness, and power.
Mountain lions however symbolically contain similar attributes as its feline predecessor, but due to its geographic location, habitat and temperament it holds a deeper meaning.
What do mountain lions mean in our dreams?
Depending how the mountain lion approached you in your dream determines if this a hidden threat, or your unconscious pull towards the feminine strength, courage and intuition. I guess it would make sense why in Native mythology the Algonquins and Ojibwe believe that the cougar lived in the underworld and was wicked, whereas it was a sacred animal among the Cherokee.
Regardless on its behavior, the mountain lion in your dream is a messenger from the unconscious that must be given its full attention or else an attack might be present.
The hidden meaning behind the mountain lion
Their usual habitat is in mountainous terrain, and in our dreams the mountains relates to our life obstacles, protection and spirituality. Once the mountain lion come down from its place of dwelling they become a symbol of what is wild or unconscous with the dreamer that is not fully understood.
Article: Symbolic Meaning Of Mountains
The mountain lion in your dream tends to be a manifestation related to our hidden nature or instincts — anger, desire to hurt, aggressiveness; or fear of these feelings in others or ourselves.
Mountain lion dreams & hidden clues
Mountain lions are quiet, solitary and elusive, and typically avoid people by nature. They heard you coming from a distance long before you have even noticed its presence. Once they appear in our dreams, typically in our houses, it connects to the mind of the dreamer.
Letting them inside your house allows the dreamer to explore your hidden fears, temper, but also the power of your physical strength. Depending on how tame or aggressive they are it hints at either your strengths or weaknesses. What floor or room they are in alters the meaning of your dream. For example, if the mountain lion was in your room (bed) it points at your relationships, intimacy; as opposed to the kitchen which transforms the dreamer.
- encourages the dreamer to explore hidden fears
- people who pose a threat
- inner strengths that needs to be activated
- unconscious aggressive nature that belongs to you or others
- power and dominance
- feminine or yin energy
Article: The symbolic nature of the house in dreams
Furthermore if a mountain lion attacks it suggests that this aggressive behaviors belongs to you or an outside feminine force that has waited for you to turn your back.
Biblical meaning of mountain lion in dreams
In the Bible mountain lions represent courage and power which are imperative that Christians should have when it relates to God.
Revelation 5:5: Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” The connection with the seven seals suggests that the lion might be activating these inner energies.
Just like our dream and in mythology the lion contains both negative and positive meanings, and sometimes it can be ones on the attack. For example, in 1 Peter 5:8 “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour”.
The mountain lion in your dream might in fact be a biblical representation of God testing your faith. Remember when the king threw Daniel in the lion’s’ den? The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!” … My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight.
I just woke up literally 2 minutes ago and I felt like my dream was strange. I would have never expected it but it started off as me in a car with a family member and we stopped at a gas station, and met a famous you-tuber. We got some wrapped stuff and drove off, but a minute later I just randomly jumped out the car and ran into a religious store. When I ran out the person behind the counter called me and I went up to her and we had a small talk about my brother because she… Read more »
I enjoyed the deep dive into the symbolic meaning of mountain lions in dreams. Your connection of the mountain lion to both the physical environment it inhabits and the psychological aspects it represents provides a lot of food for thought. I’m curious if there are any cultural differences in how mountain lions are interpreted in dreams.
I just woke up from a very vivid dream about a mountain lion. He was in my house and very tame, and exhibited an almost human like intelligence. He sat at the table in a chair, upright like a human. In front of him was a colouring book, he proceeded to pick up a pink neon marker and colour the image perfectly. I know it was a he, somehow I knew his name was Edgar. I was amazed at how he was able to hold a marker in his paw (he was right handed), and how quickly he was able… Read more »
I don’t often remember dreams, however, last night I had a dream of two mountain lions- I’m thinking a mother and her almost adult child. They were on a hill paying no attention to me. I felt so calm and relaxed seeing them together just sniffing the air around them. I watched for a few and then just turned away and don’t remember anything else. It was one of those very real dreams. I loved it!
I went to this beat up old tree house structure to rescue my dog that was taken by an unknown group of persons… when there I found my 2 adult cougars and one baby cougar and rescued them too. I’m not sure what this means as I don’t even own cats.
I was walking or jogging or just going around a backyard and a cougar or Mountain Lion was trying to catch me. I have noticed in my past with negative feelings that an evil spirit is trying to capture me and a lot of my dreams in my life is wandering alone like a survival game. I find refuge in certain homes of spirits that are kind and are there for me. Other times I’m too far away from where I want to be and I encounter evil spirits that scare me. I cry out to the lord when I’m… Read more »
I was in a truck bed full of straw. Suddenly, a cougar was laying at my feet passively looking at me, then it got up a waled away with another couger in the background.
I had a dream, where I saw a man got shot and killed by a man riding a motorcyle, he only shoot that man and he’s more like his target, and by the time I saw it, I ran. I tried to go left at the place i’m quite familiar of which is my elementary school for a reason, and when I ran to the left, I saw a mountain lion wreaking havoc to the people at the distant. I go back and tried to go the other way, I saw that mountain lion or lioness (I don’t know which… Read more »
My dream last night consisted of a large tiger I had as a pet, and 2 small lions (not tiny cubs, but not fully grown). The tiger was somehow killed at the beginning of the dream and we covered it with a blanket until we could figure out what to do with her. The 2 lions were still very healthy and friendly. The location of my dream kept changing from a forest location, the house I grew up in, the house my grandfather lived in when I was growing up. And a house that was in my dream the previous… Read more »
I was on a mountainside in a car that’d broken down I had thought I was by myself when I seen an aggressive mountain lion walking confidently towards me and I was casually going to get back in the car but then I turn my head and see my wife and daughter at that moment my chest gets super hot and I turn to the mountain lion and I roar and stand my ground backing the mountain lion away from my family till they get in the car and my dream ended
So right before I had my dream of the mountain lion I was really stressing you know and I was out very late at night by myself. Very cold and like dozed off. I dozed off or where I was sitting though. I was sitting like next to some like power plant or something and I was like looking down at a dump then there was like a little tent with the light on and as I was looking down a mountain lion popped its head out and now I heard about the animal instinct so as soon as I… Read more »
My dream was sitting on top a hill, looking down at a desert terrain with mtns in the bk ground. I was sitting there with my young daughters and could see it coming fast. I knew we couldn’t get away, so I just grabbed them and hugged them tight. It was in front of us snarling as it came to a stop kicking up dust. She stood there and instantly I knew that I could pet her, so I reached out my hand and petted her head, the side of her neck, and then under her chin. She ripped my… Read more »
i had a dream last night of several mountain lions and a few spotted African wild cats? I think is what they’re called. Anyway, I was at my grandmothers home, and they came down from the fields and woods near her house. They were waiting for us on the front Porch when we arrived and we ran to the other side of the house to get through the other door. It was locked, and some of the cats had now gotten inside the car so we couldn’t run. The whole dream continued with that theme, different people arriving to help,… Read more »
I had a sequence of 3 dreams involving a mountain lion. The first dream happened about 2 weeks before the rest. She was in my kitchen just prowling around. I stood in a doorway and watched her. She seemed curious, but very feral. My dream switched to something benign at this point and I don’t remember anything else from that night. In dream #2, the mountain lion was outside. I don’t remember whether I saw her in the beginning, but she was following me around as I did things and went places. I sensed her more than saw her until… Read more »
My cougar and squirrel appeared in my home, I don’t remember which room. Then the next second I was leaving my parents home, it was daylight and the cougar and squirrel were sitting on their roof. They were apart from each other and the squirrel was looking off to my left really not paying any attention to us on the sidewalk. Upon waking I didn’t remember who was with me but the cougar was laying on the roof looking more or less towards us but slightly towards the right. It’s head was alert and the tail was slowly waging it… Read more »
In my dream I saw the cougar and her cubs playing, and also I saw a domestic cat with her kittens playing. They both where in a split level in the cougars in the higher level and the domestic kittens in the lower level. I was admiring they’re family nurturing dynamics. The cubs and kitties were very cute.
In my dream my cat “king” was let out by my deceased sister and I ran out to get him because I don’t let them out.(they are inside cats). Then I looked back and my sister was gone, then I continued walking thru our yard looking for him and I came across a terribly wounded cat laying on his side who I thought was him but didn’t look like him from the fur texture and two green eyes(king has yellow eyes) so I kept moving then I saw a den in my yard and heard growls and the mountain lion… Read more »
In my dream, I was friendly with the mountain lion. She stayed in my backyard and protected me, but I always remembered in the back of my mind that she is a wild animal that operates out of pure animal instinct. She ate my neighbors pit Bull in an obstacle course??? (The cougar and pit Bull were competing for some reason, and then later she fought off a wolf that was stalking my mother and I in our home. She never showed aggression towards me, my friends, or family, and yet I was always anxious and scared for the moment… Read more »
Hi, Alexandra,
It’s possible the pit bull and cougar were vying for the right to protect you and your family and the cougar won. This is important because the pit bull would not have won against the wolf. There are some very fascinating interpretations of each of these symbolic animals in Native American spiritual meanings and totems. This website is a good resource to explain them: https://www.spirit-animals.com/.
i had a dream where i am running on all four… only to realize in my dream i am not human but a mountain lion roaming the streets of a city in ruins and all life was stricken down by war or sometype of disaster. in the dream i am chased by a hooded man who does not pose a threat but watches my every move as if i am being studied. towards the end of my dream i am in an abandoned city street and i can see myself as a Mountain lion facing this hooded person who reminds… Read more »
in my dream I and a group of people were climbing a mountain and we saw a mountain lion and it cornering us and to see what it wanted we started moving and its eyes were following me so I started taking off my bags and stuff but it still wanted me and so a person the was next to my yelled that it was a lion (yes a lion) I turned around and it was staring at me and walked away