Cable Car: This image of urban travel may be all but extinct, but its iconic nature may cause it to be featured in the dream world. First, it should be considered as a symbol of the ability to navigate through more complex thought patterns, where the transportation element represents the navigation and the urban environment in which it is found represents the complexity of thought. Second, it should be considered through the lens of your personal associations with cable cars. There may be a harkening back to a slower pace of thought and openness to your process.

Cactus: The cactus is a succulent plant that manages to flourish in the desert environment seemingly devoid of water. Since water is the precious source of life, this hearty plant is a symbol of the ability to thrive despite challenging conditions. When a cactus appears in your dream, you are being shown your own capacity to find sustenance even when it appears to be absent.

Cage: A cage is designed to keep something captive while still allowing an illusion of open space. You may be feeling confined in some way in your life. Who or what was in the cage will feature largely in how you interpret a dream that has a cage in it. If it is you in the cage, then look to ways in which you have limited yourself.

Cake: You are finding reasons to celebrate and revel in the sweetness that life has to offer. We eat cake when we are recognizing important moments that are worthy of rejoicing in. A cake in a dream is offering such a moment to consider life’s joy and bounty. (See Food.)

Calendar: Calendars mark time; they help us know where we’ve been and where we are going. In the abstract, they represent the concept of time itself. In a dream, a calendar is asking you to consider how time is a factor in your decision-making or how you are thinking about the life you are creating. The emotional sensation of the dream will help you decide how to interpret this symbol.

Calf: This young cow is an immature and undeveloped version of the nurturing and sustaining meaning associated with its adult parent. Add the element of innocence to your interpretation. (See Cow.)

Callus: A callus forms when a certain action is repeated over and over, hardening the skin with small amounts of scar tissue. This allows for these motions to continue without harm or damage. Calluses are evidence of hard work and accomplishment as well as the skill to create and build. In a dream, they are asking you to consider where you have been putting your effort and attention.

Camel: The camel is a desert animal and can survive for long periods of time without intake of water. Additionally, camels are hearty pack animals and have been helping nomadic peoples with their way of life for thousands of years. In this way, camels carry the medicine of strength and drive, helping to keep you focused on the goal at hand. When a camel visits you in your dream state, you are being given the gift of fortitude.

Camera: A camera allows you to record and document the important moments of your life. In this way, it is a symbol that relates to an extension of your memory. This is becoming more ubiquitous in modern culture with the advent of digital media, and the camera’s reach is more and more about a constant collection of data and self-expression. A camera in your dream may relate to a desire to be public about your experience and to continually reflect about where you have been in your journey.

Camping: Camping is a back-to-nature activity that brings you closer to the earth. This image in a dream may relate to a need or desire to get back to the basics or fundamentals of living simply, without the complications that make life chaotic and stressful.

Can: A can contains something of value that you want to keep preserved for later use, usually food. The implication of this symbol is that something from the past has been stored and saved. This can be something of value, in which case it is a positive dream image. However, canned goods can spoil and become dangerous, in which case the can in your dreams could indicate it is time to let go of something from your past.

Candle: A candle is a symbol for the spark of life that we are all masters of. You ignite a candle to signify important moments and to represent your ability to create light where previously there was none. A dream with a candle in it may be indicating that such a creative moment is at hand. An unlit candle indicates the potential for light to come into some dark space. Lighting a candle in a dream may indicate a desire to celebrate life’s milestones and key experiences. If the candles in your dream have particular colors associated with them, look to the symbolic meanings of those colors for deeper meaning.

Candy: You may desire more sweetness in your life. You may also be more focused on instant gratification. Candy is a food substance that delivers an enormous amount of sugar into the body, significantly altering its chemistry in rapid fashion. The brain responds almost immediately, and while there is an initial surge of energy, it is then followed by a rebound effect shortly thereafter. Much of the symbolic meaning of this symbol connects to this physical phenomenon, as there is an addictive quality to the experience of eating candy. Have a little and the body will want more. You may also be longing for some romance, as giving candy as a gift is often thought of as a romantic gesture. Also consider candy as a reward; are you seeking validation for a job well done?

Cap: You may want to keep some of your thoughts hidden. A hat covers the head, the symbolic representation of your thoughts. Wordplay using “cap” as synonymous for something that limits or contains means this particular type of head gear is likely pointing to a desire to limit or restrain your thoughts in some way. A cap may also point to a desire to connect to your sportier nature, as caps were originally designed for outdoor play, where blocking the sun was desirable. A cap in a dream might point to wishing to limit how much light you can see. (See Hat.)

Car: We move around in our lives through our cars, and your dream that involves a car is illuminating something about the journey of your life as it relates to how you are navigating your life, your choices, and your sense of creating your own destiny. If your car is crashed or broken, you may be feeling like the circumstances in your life have stopped you from moving forward, maybe very abruptly. To have lost your car is to be feeling confused about where to go next. The color of a car in a dream may offer some deeper meaning. A car moving too fast or too slow for your comfort level may be indicating a desire to have more control than you actually have.

Card: Sending a card to an individual is a way of honoring a particular expression and bringing that expression to a higher level. Usually associated with a specific message, the type of card should feature prominently in your interpretation. Consider the message; your dream is asking you to consider some idea as important enough to point it out in a ritualized fashion.

Carnival: A tightly knit community of fringe society, a carnival creates an atmosphere of fun and escapism for the person who attends one. In a dream, this image may relate to either the event itself or the people responsible for creating the event. If the sensation of the dream feels connected to being a guest at the carnival, then interpret this dream through the lens of play. If the dream is more a behind-the-scenes experience, then you may be connecting to your rebellious nature. (See Circus.)

Carpet: The floor in a dream always relates to how grounded you feel. It is the foundation upon which the consciousness of the room stands. The presence of a carpet relates to a desire for softness and comfort beneath your feet. The state, color, and texture of the carpet in your dream should inform how grounded you are feeling at this time.

Casket: The implication of a casket is that someone has died. Any death is symbolic of the rebirth that will follow. The casket itself represents the ability to contain the process of change and transformation that a death implies.

Cat: You are dreaming about unconditional love in the feminine principle. Cats of all types represent powerful feminine energy, which includes receptivity, creativity, sensuality, and stillness. They are hunters by nature, and their nocturnal behavior associates them with the feminine aspect of night. While their masculine counterpart, the dog, embodies a pack mentality, the cat is the symbol of self-reliance. First domesticated about three thousand years ago, cats were revered for their ability to control rodent populations that would have beleaguered the stores of grain that were so crucial to the emergence of civilization. Cats have long been associated with magic and witchcraft, with the classic black cat as the carrier of the most superstition.

Caterpillar: Before the transformation occurs that leads to the butterfly, there is the caterpillar. The caterpillar must do something tremendously courageous: it must willingly give up its own life. It has no idea of the miracle to come. When the caterpillar comes to your dream, you are being asked to consider total and utter surrender, to take a great leap of faith, trusting that miracles occur.

Celebrities: Celebrities are the gods and goddesses of modern life and represent archetypal human qualities with which we all identify. The essence of a particular celebrity’s image can be distilled into a character aspect by the ways in which we perceive the person. Millions of people hold the same projected image of celebrities. The power of all that magnified perception endows them with superhuman status and removes any sense of the person underneath the persona. Celebrities show up in our dreams when the stakes are a little higher in terms of what we’re dreaming about. By providing a more powerful image, the unconscious is telling you to pay more attention. Approach the interpretation the same way you would anyone in your dreams.

Cell Phone: You are dreaming of being connected to or disconnected from the people in your life. In this day and age, your cell phone represents the power and speed of thought. The instant you think of someone, you can connect to them. Whatever is happening with a cell phone in a dream relates to how strong that connectedness is at the time of your dream. Using your cell phone in a dream means you desire to feel instantly connected to others in your life. Static on a call is representative of anxiety or chaotic and disconnected ideas. A lost cell phone is to have misplaced your ability to express yourself and your thoughts with your extended community. (See Phone.)

Centaur: The centaur is known for having the head, torso, and arms of a man and the body of a horse. This combines the archetypal meaning of powerful, masculine energy with the intellect and reasoning capacity of a human being. A creature that attaches the legs of a goat to a male torso brings dark sexual energy together with the masculine principle and is often considered a guide for bringing you from one place to brand-new territory. Such an image in a dream is calling upon the aspirational influence to face some difficult circumstance in your life with greater skill and power.

Chair: The act of sitting implies a restfulness or the stillness between movements. Sitting in a chair relates to the choice to commit to what that chair’s purpose has to offer. The chair in front of a desk implies a willingness to get to work; a dining room chair relates to taking in sustenance and nurturing; a comfortable armchair might indicate the desire to rest. The presence of a chair in a dream usually indicates that it is time to pause.

Chakras: In modern New Age thought, there is an understanding of energy as it relates to the body that connects to certain centers known as chakras. Each of these body vortexes can be understood symbolically based on the area of the body they relate to and the function of that area. There are seven of these energy centers that correlate with the physical body. The first energy center is the root chakra, located at the base of the spine. This connects to security, groundedness, and the sense that all your needs are met. The second chakra includes the sacrum and genitals and is where primal creativity is expressed. The third chakra is in the belly and is where instincts and gut feelings are located. The fourth chakra is the center of the entire structure and is the home of the heart. The fifth chakra is located at the throat and is where communication occurs. Intuition is located in an area at the forehead known as the third eye, which is the sixth chakra. The crown of the head is the home of the seventh chakra and is most connected to the higher self and spiritual awareness. If your dream features any imagery that highlights one of these areas on the physical body, you can draw your interpretation from the meaning associated with the chakra that is being highlighted. It is important to note that each of these chakras has a color that is associated with it. The order of the chakras corresponds to the order of the colors as they appear when white light is refracted into its separate vibrations. From one to seven, that order is red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. For more distinctions in your interpretations, see each of these individual colors. (See Colors.)

Chased: See Being Chased.

Cheerleader: Cheerleaders inspire enthusiasm and confidence by expressing these traits in an organized way in a public forum. The cheerleaders in a dream are the parts of your consciousness that are appearing to motivate you to your highest level of performance in some task you are undertaking.

Cheetah: All cats relate to the power of the feminine principle. The larger the cat, the greater the power of this totem. The distinction of the cheetah is related to its speed; it is the fastest of all the large felines. When this animal appears in a dream, the medicine you are being acquainted with relates to rapid agility when facing transitions in your life.

Chicken: The chicken is the most consumed animal product in the Western world, making the symbolic meaning of the chicken directly connected to abundance, prosperity, and nurturance. The common phrase “like a chicken with its head cut off” brings the meaning of ignorance and stupidity into the symbolic mix. The chicken in your dream may be relating to one of these principles. There is some spiritual connection to the rooster through Chinese astrology. (See Rooster.)

Children: All people in your dreams are reflections of your personality. At the heart of this symbol, children represent innocence. However, the behavior and actions of the children may affect how you interpret their presence in your dream. Also consider the age of the child or children in the landscape of the dream. They may represent new ideas, patterns, and expressions of consciousness that emerged in your waking life at the time of their birth. For example, a seven-year-old child may connect to some element of your life that began seven years prior to having the dream. You can also look at the age of a child in a dream as relating to a pattern that emerged in your consciousness at that age. From this perspective, the seven-year-old dream child relates to something that happened to you when you were seven. If the children in your dream are your own, the dream is likely reflecting issues that are more literal and about your home life.

Choking: You are struggling to speak your mind and facing an overwhelming or dangerous block to effective communication. Any experience that connects with the neck and throat places us in the realm of communication. When someone is choking, their ability to speak is limited or even eliminated. Someone choking or being choked in a dream is dealing with communication issues that are intense enough to be, at least symbolically, a matter of life and death. Look to where issues of communication are connected to people, places, or things where the stakes feel very high. If you are choking someone else, consider that you may be trying to stifle a particular way of communicating in the world that may be out of control or not serving you in some way.

Church: You are dreaming of connecting to your spiritual nature in a more conventional way. Churches, temples, and mosques are the center of spiritual life for any community. Just like a house in a dream, any building can be interpreted as representing one’s current sense of self. In this way, any place of worship ultimately points to your relationship with spirituality and religion. Because this element of life can be particularly controversial, it is very important that you make a clear distinction between the universal meaning of church as connecting to matters of spirituality and whatever personal feelings you harbor about organized religion.

Circus: You are dreaming of running away from your responsibilities in life. Any form of entertainment must be considered symbolically as connecting to escapism. With a circus, the additional texture of enormity must be added. This symbol contains a surreal element as well, as exemplified by the strangeness of clowns and the oddities of the sideshow. Additionally, the circus has a reputation of catering to those on the fringes of society, a closed community that is secularized from the rest of the world. The mythology that surrounds the circus is that it is a place where freaks, outsiders, and loners can find a home. In this way, the meaning of escapism also includes a fantasy element in which someone can literally escape the mundane world by running away with the circus. If you were an audience member in the dream, then escapism should be the main theme of your interpretation. If you were performing in a circus, you may be expressing some inner pull toward grandiose expressions of your sense of individuality and originality. If you were more connected to what was going on behind the scenes and the community of performers, look to where in your life you may be seeking agreement from like-minded people in a realm that is off the beaten path.

Climbing: You are looking to grow and expand in your life and are expending a great deal of effort to this end. A climb is the effort that must be expended to reach a particular goal. All goals require effort; many can involve struggle. As you identify what struggle in your life might be represented by the climb, the feelings and images in the dream can inform how you are approaching the current challenge in your life. A dramatic shift is akin to embarking on a journey of some kind, whether it is emotional, financial, spiritual, or dealing with a health challenge. It may show up in a dream as a climb as your psyche tries to show you that you have the resources to make it to the top, despite the fear or intensity of the effort involved. By the same token, the dream may be telling you that you may be overemphasizing the struggles in your life and that you are applying more effort than is required. If this is the case, consider the lack of balance between effort and expectations you are currently experiencing. Your job is to define the journey and find the balance between intent and effort. This way, the ascent to your destination can be met with joy and enthusiasm.