Sunday, December 29, 2002		Dream Theme

Dreaming of crows
Vinaya Katoch Manhas

LIKE any other bird, the crow also carries different implications and interpretations in a dream. It can be a symbol of death, of sorrow, of hope for some good news, of witches and black magic.

As per Indian thought, to see an absolutely black crow is a bad omen. It implies that your future may be enveloped in total darkness. You could be surrounded by problems and troubles. You should be prepared to face injustice. Should you see the crow fly away when you shoo it, it means that you could succeed in overcoming the troubles that surround you and prove your innocence. In certain areas of India seeing a crow cawing on your rooftop is an indication of guests or some news coming your way. Similarly, to hear a crow in your dream has the same meaning. But in certain cultures to hear a crow cawing is considered inauspicious.

As per western thought, seeing a crow in your dreams foretells misfortune and grief. To hear it cawing would mean that you could be misguided by others in personal matters. Such a dream advises you to rely on your own judgement before making any decisions. Seeing a black crow in your dreams indicates reversal in fortune and inharmonious surroundings. For a young woman it implies betrayal by her lover. A raven is also taken as the bird of witches and is thus considered an inauspicious symbol.

Psychoanalytically speaking, seeing crows in dreams can be interpreted in two ways. It is a symbol of death as it feeds on carcasses, but it also stands for wisdom and craftiness. It also represents the evil intent of a person.

An 18-year-old boy would often dream of crows cawing and making a lot of noise. This would scare him and he would put his hands on his ears to shut off the noise but would be unable to do so. He had been having this dream intermittently since childhood. Earlier it would scare him, but now it would only disturb him. Associations were made between the previous day’s happenings and the occurrence of the dream. This was done for the last five to six times when the boy saw the dream. It was noticed that whenever the boy had a quarrel or an argument with his parents he had a sense of injustice as he felt that they favoured his younger brother. It was then that he would see this dream. He would, in his anger, link their act of injustice with the ugliness of a crow. It was an association he had made in innocence in his childhood which had endured into adulthood, but with time he had forgotten why he had formed the association.