I started this whole thing because I had this absolutely wild dream a few months back. Nothing like a typical nightmare, just really vivid and confusing stuff involving a lot of dust and some kind of huge, ancient tree that talked. I tried hitting up my usual internet spots and those thick dream dictionaries I own, but nothing even came close to making sense. It felt like trying to use a map of New York to navigate Tokyo. A total mess.
The False Start and the Real Grind
My first move was the classic one: I looked up “African dream symbols” like it was just another menu item. That was a dead end fast. All I got were these wishy-washy, generic lists that looked like they’d been copied and pasted 500 times from some old Geocities site. They stripped everything out—the culture, the context, the feeling. A snake was just a “sign of betrayal,” which is what every third grader thinks anyway. It completely missed the point of what I was seeing.
I realized I had to start digging deeper. I gave up on the quick fixes and went way off-road. I spent maybe two weeks just trying to find older texts, personal accounts, anything that wasn’t a commercialized, sanitized list. It wasn’t easy; lots of stuff is locked up in academic journals or just isn’t translated, but I kept pushing. I really had to lean on some archived stuff and forum posts where people were actually sharing their family’s tradition, not just some SEO garbage.
The moment it clicked for me was when I stopped focusing on the object and started focusing on the relationship and the community. That flips your lid right there. In Western views, it’s all about your own psyche. In the view I was finding, it was about your connection to the past, the family, the land, and the future. My dreams suddenly started looking less like personal dramas and more like warnings or instructions for my whole gang.
My Personal Symbol Log: What I Found
Here’s where the practice really kicked in. I set aside the common lists and started building my own notes based on the recurring themes I was finding in my research, and then testing them against my own weird dreams. It wasn’t about finding the definition, but finding the action.
- Water: Forget about just “emotions.” I kept finding water linked to spiritual healing and crossing thresholds. If it was still and clear, it was often about a calm connection to the ancestors, a stable foundation. If it was a rushing river, it was big change or maybe something ancestral pushing you forward hard. Not a threat, but a force.
- Snakes or Reptiles: This was the biggest surprise. Absolutely not just evil or betrayal. Every time I ran into a discussion about them, they were tied up with healing, the transfer of knowledge, or maybe a sign that a powerful spirit or ancestor was moving around you. I had to unlearn all the biblical Western stuff I’d been fed since I was a kid. If you see a snake, you usually need to pay attention to a specific area of your life that needs renovation.
- Cattle or Livestock: This one is huge because it’s not just “wealth.” It’s about status, responsibility, continuity, and the physical link to the land. If I saw fat, healthy cattle in a dream, it wasn’t just my bank account looking good; it was a sign that my labor and my family connections were solid and paying off for the whole line. If they were skinny or stray, it meant the community structure, or my place in it, was shaky and needed tending.
- Flying (The Act of): In my initial research, flying was always just “freedom” or “escape.” What I found was a much heavier meaning: it often meant you were communicating directly with the spirit world or that a message was coming very fast, or maybe even that you were acting as a messenger yourself. It wasn’t relaxation; it was work.
The Real Takeaway After Months of Practice
The bottom line is you can’t just read a list and be done with it. The entire practice is built on a relationship—your relationship with your past, your ancestors, and the people around you. What I finally grasped, after tearing through all those sources and trying to apply them to my personal weird visions, is that the African interpretation isn’t just about figuring out what your head is telling you. It’s about understanding what your lineage is asking you to do.
I stopped trying to find a single, fixed meaning. Now, when I journal a dream, I don’t look up the symbols right away. I first ask: What part of my family or my foundation does this connect to? That simple shift in perspective made my entire dream life go from being confusing noise to actual, useful guidance. It took patience and a ton of searching, but seeing your night-time visions through this different, communal lens is a game-changer. It’s not just a dictionary; it’s a whole different way of looking at the world.
