Water

Water is the oldest and most elastic symbol in the archive, and the tradition is clear that its state matters more than its presence. Water appears in dream records from every tradition and every century, and in none of them does its mere presence mean anything at all. Water appears in nearly every culture's dream records, and it is read almost always as feeling — the emotional weather of the dreamer. Calm water is read as settled feeling, a sense of ease or clarity. Rough water is read as unsettled feeling, a sense of turbulence or worry. The reading turns on what the water was doing and what you were doing in it. Clear water is read as clarity — a situation you can see through. Murky water is read as confusion — something you cannot see to the bottom of. Rising water is read as a feeling of being overwhelmed, of something coming in faster than you can manage. Still water is read as a pause, a holding of feeling. What you were doing matters too: swimming is read as moving through a feeling, drowning as being overwhelmed by it, drinking as taking something in, and standing at the edge as being at the threshold of a feeling you have not yet entered. The tradition is careful to say what this is not: it is not a sign of a literal flood or a prediction about water. It is read as a measure of how your feelings are moving right now — and that is the useful part of the reading.