Hi,

I keep dreaming of rats, seeing them all of the time, but never catching them. along with this dream i have one particular dream where a dog keeps biting my hand. The dog is big and very aggressive. Last I dreamed that after he attacking me, he went for my mother and father.

Please help me understand this dream.

Dear Dreamer,

As there are two separate dreams here, I will approach them separately. You didn’t specify what the rats looked like in your dreams, but when you see rats in your dreams they signify feelings of doubt, guilt, envy or unworthy thoughts about yourself. In other words, doubting and not thinking positively about yourself and it’s eating you up inside. When you think about the environments rats are usually drawn to, places that are usually dirty and full of litter and apply that to your dream world, it shows that there are aspects of yourself you are not happy with. In particular this means there are thoughts you are having that need ‘cleaning up’.

Different colours of the rats mean different things. If you are dreaming of a black rat, it represents deceit and covert activities. White rats in contrast show that in your time of distress you will receive help from an unexpected source.

The dream about the dogs is a little different but is along the same theme. Looking at the dream where you have the dog that keeps biting your hand it is trying to give you a message and alert you to something as quickly as possible. Dogs represent faithfulness, loyalty, protection and generosity. They are also often messengers in dreams and in real life. They guide people to their correct path when they are looking for it. It is attacking you to alert you to some inner conflict in relation to the dogs traits (faithfulness, loyalty etc), and can also indicate betrayal and untrustworthiness, or the feeling of these within you. The fact that the dog is quite big in your dream means that it’s really trying to get your attention.

The other dream you had with the dog involved finishing attacking you then going after your parents shows it is attacking your childhood values and sense of self. Your parents represent many things, but mostly authority, unconditional love and acceptance, and the masculine & feminine aspects within you (generosity and nurturing).

I feel that both of these dreams are showing you that you are not happy with yourself or are lacking self confidence in areas in your life, in particular fixing things you are not happy with in your life.

Look at the worries you have and decide that it’s time to just let them go, work on what’s eating at you, then let it go and decide not to revisit that place again, you don’t need it anymore. Right now you are being too meek and it’s time to take a stand for yourself.

Love
Cassandra