someone you know in waking life, perhaps you long to lavish attention on that particular person.
BAPTISM AND NAMING CEREMONY
To dream of being baptized suggests a new influence is entering your life. You are leaving old attitudes behind and opening yourself up to new possibilities. Is there an idea or a concept that is about to be presented to an appreciative audience? Or perhaps your unconscious is urging you to transform your mindset radically and make positive changes to your lifestyle? If godparents appeared in your dream, were they people you knew? If they were, perhaps your unconscious is suggesting that they are the ones you should turn to for help. If you didn’t know who they were, you should seek out the necessary help and support.
Baby extras
Breast-feeding
To dream that you are breast-feeding symbolizes tenderness, love, nurturing and motherly love. It indicates your unconscious connection with the nurturing principle. To see someone nursing or dream that you are nursing suggests that you are nurturing, or need to nurture, aspects of yourself.
Cradle and cot
To see a cradle in your dream represents a new project or a fresh start. As a precognitive dream it may represent pregnancy, and in a man’s dream it can represent the need to be protected and cared for. Your dream may be telling you to regain some control and independence in your life. An empty cradle suggests fear about not having children, or fears about the responsibility of becoming, or being, a mother. If you are rocking the cradle, this may be a reference to your power: think of the saying ‘the hand that rocks the cradle’.
Dummy/feeding-bottle/nappy/pacifier/rattle
If you are pregnant, any baby-related items that appear in dreamland may be reflections of your current preoccupation with all things baby. If you are not pregnant or thinking about starting a family, baby-related items in dreams link in with the birth theme of new beginnings and possibilities. They can also represent your desire to be supported, loved and protected. If you dream of a baby sitter or nanny, this may be a warning or a comment on your own security and ability to handle things by yourself.
Nursery
A nursery full of babies suggests that starting a family may be high on your agenda, but it can also mean that you may be thinking about keeping a pet, or nurturing a group of people or a project. If the nursery is badly run, this is a reflection of your anxiety about leaving your children or a sick family member under other people’s supervision. If the nursery school in your dream is full of very young children, this suggests that your ambitions will take you far, but if the nursery is empty or deserted, your plans may be unrealistic and you should review them before proceeding further. If you dreamed of being back at kindergarten, or some other environment strongly associated with the early years of learning, it may be that your unconscious is transporting you back to that time in order to remind you of a valuable lesion that you learned, or failed to learn, there. For example, did your kindergarten teacher encourage you to join in with the activities, and have you been aloof in waking life recently? On the other hand if you dreamed that you were playing around with your friends and driving the teacher to distraction and received a bad report as a result, could this be a pattern that is being echoed in waking life? By reminding you of the relationship between cause and effect, your unconscious may be urging you to stop using immature strategies to gain popularity or impress others, and start applying yourself instead. See also SCHOOL AND WORK.
If you are baptizing someone, this means you are ready to pass on your knowledge to others. There is also a possibility that you may be having religious beliefs imposed on you if you have this dream. Baptism is symbolic of many things: rebirth, regeneration and renewal and the common theme for all these is the sense of optimism surrounding them. If you are a Christian, baptism is associated with a washing away of original sin and the start of a new life as a Christian; your dream may have been denoting your wish to be reborn or—depending on who is being baptized or christened—your desire for someone else to undergo a transformation of some kind. On the other hand, your unconscious may also be recalling a baptism you witnessed in waking life.
Childhood Scenarios
ABANDONED BY PARENT/CARER
You may have a dream in which you are a child again and are being left at school, in a shop, in the street or park by your mother and running after her, perhaps not being able to reach her or not being heard. To be abandoned by a parent or carer in a dream—or to be separated from them so you feel lost and vulnerable—may represent a sense of not being wanted when you were young. This may not actually have been the case, but you may feel that way. Alternatively, such a dream might also suggest that you are searching in waking life for the emotional freedom to be yourself and to be independent. On another level it may be pointing to your need to find guidance or help from others; many people have dreams of childhood abandonment after the death of a loved one. If you are trying to attract your parents’ attention but they cannot hear you, such a dream may be saying that you feel neglected emotionally and you need to express your feelings and be understood by others.
BOY/GIRL
If the child in your dream is a boy, you know the dream is commenting on your feelings about the boy but referring these things to yourself. For example, if the boy is disruptive, it may depict your own desire to cause disruption of some kind in waking life. It may also indicate a male child in waking life who is giving you cause for concern. If you do not recognize the boy, it suggests that you need to be a little more adventurous and bring excitement to your life. In a man’s dream, an unknown boy can represent new potential and the part of himself he needs to ‘father’ in order to grow and mature. In a woman’s dream, an unknown boy can suggest your developing ability to express your feelings in actions.
If the child in your dream is a girl, this may be a symbol of your spontaneous, vulnerable side trying to emerge, regardless of whether you are male or female. In a man’s dream, it can refer to feelings about a daughter, or emotions and sexual feelings towards the opposite sex in general. In a woman’s dream, the girl can represent a sister or a daughter, but can also represent aspects of the dreamer portrayed by the girl. According to ancient dream oracles, threatening a girl or boy in a dream is an ominous sign that indicates you should take extra care of your health in the weeks ahead.
CHILD
A dream about a child (under the age of thirteen or so) may be a dream about yourself. If you are having a wonderful time playing and dressing up, the dream may be encouraging you to have more fun in your adult life. A dream about a child refusing to share or being inconsiderate may be a comment on your own weaknesses. Has your recent behavior or approach to life been a little childish? If you are the child in the dream, this can suggest a need to shed some of your current responsibilities in real life or express your real self.
If you are caring for a child or infant, and not really wanting to, perhaps someone in waking life is being demanding and requiring too much attention. If you want
