Fire Engine: Fire is a symbol of great change and transformation. The fire engine is the part of your consciousness that needs to be called upon when things are changing too fast for your own comfort and you wish to slow things down to a more manageable pace.
Fire Escape: Fire is a symbol of great change and transformation. Change is scary and we often avoid it. The fire escape is an image that implies knowing how to get out of a hot situation should it prove too dangerous or frightening. The challenge with this in a dream is to identify whether your fears are warranted or if you should turn around, go back, and face the changes that are inevitable.
Firefighter: The firefighter is an archetypal character that is called upon when there is great change occurring and that change is overwhelming or out of control. This is the part of your consciousness that can attempt to manage the level of chaos and the sense that things are out of control.
Firefly: This is a symbol for fleeting moments of inspiration. Something that flies through the air connects to the intellect, like thoughts. The sudden glow of a firefly’s tail is evidence that it is there, flying around undetected, but suddenly makes itself known, just like an idea that briefly appears in your consciousness and just as quickly fades away. Your dream may be asking you to pay closer attention to the random thoughts of inspiration that pass through your consciousness lest they pass you by.
Fireplace: All symbols that relate to fire are about change and transformation. A fireplace is a humanmade construction designed to take the amazing power offered by a fire and contain it in such a way to provide any number of services. Fire represents change and transformation on an enormous scale. However, when it is enclosed in a safe and durable structure, that force of change becomes both highly effective and focusable. The usable power of fire lies in a very small window of the continuum on which it exists. Too little and it does little more than look pretty. Just a little too much and the danger is life-threatening and enormously destructive. A fireplace is the organizing principle around which great power can be harnessed to accomplish a very specific goal.
Fish: Fish are like ideas that are floating under the surface of your unconscious mind. Dreaming of fish means you are considering what is lurking just below your awareness, the thoughts and feelings that are close enough to be known to you but that you may have to make an effort to get to the heart of. If the fish are colorful and beautiful, they may be representing more creative aspects of your potential expression. Fish in a tank may be the ideas from your unconscious of which you are actually becoming aware. Containing them in a tank may be considering taking action on them, but could also indicate being stuck in a cycle of limiting your creative expression. A live fish out of water reacts violently. In a dream, this could symbolize the awkwardness surrounding vulnerable expression. Eating fish is to experience satisfaction from the constructive use of your ideas and thoughts.
Fish Tank: Fish are symbolic of ideas that float around under the surface of the water of your emotions and your unconscious nature. A fish tank is a symbol that puts such ideas on display, like a reminder of the beautiful notions that are available to you if you look below the surface.
Fishing: If your dream involves the act of fishing, there is an entirely different interpretation to consider. The act of fishing is the search for an idea that matches a particular desire. The process requires the proper tools, an element of attraction (bait), and the most important ingredient—patience. (See Fish.)
Fist: This is a symbol for aggressive tendencies and the preparedness to fight. A fist implies an angry reaction to something and the readiness to take action or retaliation.
Five: What follows the foundational sense of four is the freedom of five. Once a structure has been established, there is now a sense of safety and security for exploration. The number five embodies this expressiveness. The human body expresses the number five as represented by the four limbs and the head. The ability for the body to move about through space is a vibrant and exhilarating experience. In this way, five symbolizes freedom, joy, and bliss. With this comes the shadow of freedom: indulgence. This expression of five can carry grave consequences, such as compulsion and addiction.
Flag: The flag is a symbol itself and always represents something such as a country, a state, or an organization. In a dream, the flag represents another thought or feeling, depending on the nature of the flag. Something that looks or feels governmental or political might connect to the structures of your life. A white flag suggests that you need to surrender something that is occurring for you. A red flag is a warning that is often unheeded.
Flame: The flame is the tip of the fire and could be thought of as the part of the fire that spreads from one thing to another. The flame of a candle or any fire may seem manageable at first, but it could easily lead to more combustion if left to its own devices. In this way, a flame is the potential for greater destruction if you are careless. (See Fire.)
Flamingo: The flamingo is a wading bird, so it is connected symbolically to the realm of emotions and things that are just under the surface of the unconscious. A flamingo’s elegant visage and beautiful pink color give it the added dimension of signaling in a soft way something that may be brewing just under the surface. Flamingos stand in murky territory as if to say, “Something is lurking just under the surface here.”
Flash Mob: A relatively new phenomenon, the flash mob is a moment of creative genius that arises out of chaos. It is a symbol of the ability of random thoughts to suddenly coalesce into a single magnificent idea, direction, or creative project. In life, such an event requires an enormous amount of preparation and teamwork to execute in a successful manner. Consider each person in the flash mob in your dream as an individual thought or idea that lives inside your own consciousness. When these random tangents of thought are brought together into alignment with an idea or project that you would like to manifest, amazing things can be accomplished through cooperation and organization.
Flashlight: Any light is symbolic of the desire to illuminate and see more clearly. A flashlight implies a sense of portability and the capacity to shed light on a situation at any time. A flashlight in a dream indicates that some sort of deeper investigation is at hand.
Flea Market: This gathering of people who are selling used items is symbolic of the notion that old ideas can be traded for currency or the idea of making room for something new by releasing that which no longer serves you.
Flies: Most insects are symbols of the underlying ideas and constructs that we generally consider repellent or undesirable. Flies in particular carry disease and are often associated with both fecal matter and decomposition. From this perspective, flies are associated with the possibility of such repulsive material being nearby. In this way, they connect to the shadow side of things we wish weren’t close to us.
Flight Attendant: An airplane relates to sudden transitions in life, as you get on a plane in one place and get off it in completely different territory. The flight attendant is the person whose role is to make that trip more comfortable and safe. As a symbol, flight attendants are the parts of your consciousness that are designed to ease your way through difficult shifts.
Flood: Water in dreams relates to emotional issues and the unconscious mind. A flood is the destructive experience of being overwhelmed on an emotional level. This is a fairly common dream theme and will emerge when your life is offering you experiences that are stimulating deep responses on a feeling level.
Floors: A dream that involves anything to do with floors or flooring symbolizes considerations of feeling supported. The floor is the symbolic foundation of our identity. Buildings in dreams represent our different perceptions of consciousness. Houses, especially, connect to our sense of self. As such, the floor represents the foundation on which we stand as individuals. The quality and integrity of the floor in your dream informs how grounded you currently feel. A solid floor with structural integrity points to solidity of identity. Any type of damage or erosion indicates that there is change afoot.
Flowers: A flower is a symbol for expressions of love and beauty for its own sake. Flowers also represent fertility and the possibility of new growth in the future. There is a language to flowers that we have lost in modern society but that was once a vibrant way of communicating specific loving messages. For example, a red rose signifies romantic love, whereas a yellow one indicates platonic love. No matter what distinctions you draw about the specific flower(s) that appear in your dream, consider that once flowers are picked, they begin the process of wilting and decay, representing the ephemeral nature of feelings of love and its expression.
Flying: You are ascending and rising above mundane life. You may also be avoiding something on the ground. This is one of the most common universal dream images. One of the most delightful aspects of dreaming, this cross-cultural symbol means that you are rising above everything that is on the ground. Since this can be a wonderful sensation, it is often associated with intense feelings of a positive nature. A flying dream could indicate strong feelings of freedom and bliss, which can represent moving toward a higher state of awareness or connection with spirit. It can also provide a broader perspective on your life by virtue of giving you a higher vantage point. However, it should not be overlooked that this very experience can be used as a defense by the unconscious. When this dream appears, it begs the following question: Is there anything that is being avoided or overlooked by rising above the conflict or simply not being grounded in reality?
Fog: You are having trouble seeing things clearly because of an illusory blend of thoughts and feelings. One of the interesting things about fog is that it mixes the symbolic meaning of two different elements: air and water. Fog occurs as a phenomenon in the air, yet it only exists when there is an abundance of moisture in the atmosphere, therefore connecting it to the emotions. By combining the two elemental aspects of air and water, fog is the symbolic phenomenon of what can happen when unconscious thoughts and hidden emotions combine. Fog can completely block your vision and impair your ability to navigate safely. Fog presents a potential danger to those who are traveling through it, whether over water or on land. It may be seen as the blindness that can result when your thoughts and feelings interact with each other in a confusing way. It also indicates a need to slow down and be more careful as you move about your environment. If fog is present in your dream, ask yourself if there is any area in your life that you may not be seeing accurately.
Food: Any dream with food involved is connecting to the principles of sustenance, self-care, and nurturance. If you exert rigid control over your eating in life, then you must consider food through the lens of control. If you abandon all discipline in the face of eating, you must consider food through the lens of indulgence. As this is a continuum, place yourself anywhere on the scale between these two extremes. If you are eating in the dream, combine the quality of that experience with your waking perspective. For control, eating might suggest that more nurturance is needed in some area of your life. If indulgent, you may be getting a warning of a need for discipline or a hidden impulse to stuff feelings that need expression. If you are having dream-hunger, then the control perspective could point to the impact that some exertion of limitation or lack in your life is having. In what ways are you starving?
Football: Football is a game of strategy and brute force that mirrors the act of war, where each side is engaged in the struggle to take back certain amounts of territory from their enemy. As a symbol, this very popular game is a primal expression of the competitive nature of human beings that is also infused with a level of joy in expressing these urges. If football features in a dream, you may be looking for a healthy and socially acceptable way of expressing aggression and competition.
Fork: A utensil is a mechanism that assists in the process of taking in food. Eating is symbolic of self-care and nurturance. In this way, a fork is first and foremost a symbol related to meeting these needs. As a distinction, a fork relates to making specific choices and adding an element of efficacy around taking care of yourself.
Fountain: Your emotions are bubbling up in a controlled expression of joy and ebullience. Water in a dream is always connected to emotions, and a fountain carefully constructs the flow of water in a specific way and does so for the sake of beauty and pleasure. The larger the fountain, the more emotions are being dealt with. Something in public indicates the need or desire to control your emotional expression as you are out in the world. A small water fixture that you might find in a home has the same meaning, only on a smaller scale. One that is broken in some way indicates a need to give some attention to how well you are expressing your feelings in a way that can be easily received by others. Be willing to explore whether the control implied by a fountain is in your best interests or a way of avoiding the messiness of some emotional outbreaks.
Four: When you add a fourth point to a triangle, you end up with a square. Four is the number of structure. Once the creative impulse has been satisfied, it is time for solidification, which can be accomplished by the power of four. A wonderful weight-bearing shape, a square is what allows for building the foundation on which the creative energies of three can be supported. Four connects to the establishment of institutions, order, rules, and regulations. While a number of great strength, it can engender a sense of limitation and the concept of restraint.
Four-Leaf Clover: The four-leaf clover is the ultimate symbol of fortune. If you stumble upon it, you are guaranteed a measure of good luck. If you find one in the land of your dreams, you are expressing a desire to increase your sense of abundance and prosperity and unexpected income.
Fox: The fox is clever and a bit of a trickster. When the fox appears in a dream, you are being connected to the medicine of strategy and adaptability. What situation in your life right now is requiring a bit of cunning? The fox will help you with any endeavors that require a quick mind and a nimble response.
Frog: There is no escaping the fairy tale of the frog that might turn into a prince when kissed by a young maiden. The essence of this construct is potential. Potential can be a powerful force for change if it is embraced; however, potential that is not met is of no value whatsoever. There are other meanings associated with frogs because of their amphibious nature. They represent parts of us that can survive both on land and in water. Unseen when under the surface of a pond, frogs can hop out at any moment, just as a strong emotional response can sometimes hop out of the unconscious without warning.
Fruit: The bounty of life on earth is expressed by all of the various edibles that Mother Nature has created for us. The sweetness of fruit connects to the sweetness of life. If you are dreaming of fruit of any kind, you are expressing a desire for life to feel abundant and prosperous. There is a cycle of ripeness associated with fruit that indicates a specific moment at which it is advantageous to benefit from a project, idea, or vision that may be at hand. If you wait too long to act, the fruits of your labor may be lost.
Funeral: You are processing a major change or transformation. While a funeral centers on someone who has died, the event is designed for the living. A powerful ritual, a funeral helps people process the death of someone close to them in a collective procedure that acknowledges the loss and marks the beginning of a new chapter in their lives without the deceased. In a dream in which you are at a funeral, the identity of the deceased will play an important role in your interpretation. By examining the person as a character aspect of yourself, you can consider what part of your psyche no longer serves you and has been sacrificed. In this case, only half the transformation is complete, because funerals mark a death and not the rebirth that inevitably follows. A common dream with this symbol involves the dreamer discovering that the funeral he or she is attending is his or her own. If this is the case, then the transformation that is taking place is more generalized and may connect to a developmental stage in life or a change of a large-enough magnitude as to imply a death of self. Another potential interpretation of this dream connects to feeling a lack of passion or life force in your current circumstances. (See Death.)
Furniture: A room has the consciousness that relates to the purpose of the space itself. The same can be said for furniture. The function of the object expresses the universal meanings associated with it. In a general sense, furniture is symbolic of your ability to express a particular desire, creative impulse, or structural function. Furniture in storage means that a change in how you are expressing yourself is at hand. Furniture that is old and battered may represent a need to update your ideas about how to express yourself. New furniture is symbolic of a new direction in some area of your waking life.