Label: A label offers insight and structure to whatever it is identifying. As such, we rely on it to understand what something is. A label in a dream represents your relationship with this level of comprehension—the need for it or the impact of not having it. If a label is featured in your dream, you may be seeking to have a greater understanding of something in your life. A label that cannot be read for some reason indicates that you must operate in the unknown.
Laboratory: The laboratory is a setting of the advancement of knowledge or the clear identification of something of great importance that is initially hidden. Often connected to health and illness, the lab as a setting for a dream indicates a desire to get more information about something in your life. You are approaching things from a scientific and methodical view in order to get to the bottom of something.
Labyrinth: In its essence, a labyrinth is a confusing and mazelike structure found in the underbelly of a building. As a symbol, it represents a journey to the very center of something in which the journeyer can get quite lost and turned around. A labyrinth can be found as a symbol in many spiritual and religious settings as a pattern imbedded into a floor where an individual goes on a symbolic hero’s journey. In a dream, the interpretation is the same, whether it is a freeform hidden and shadowed labyrinth or a beautiful symbol of such an inward journey. You are engaged in a deep exploration of the inner self where confusion can occur and changes of direction are imminent.
Lace: Delicate intricacy is what is being expressed with this symbol. Lace is a beautiful combination of the masculine principle of engineering and the feminine principle of patience and creativity. As a symbol in a dream, it is suggesting that the part of your nature that is being expressed can tap into both of these sides of your nature and come up with something truly beautiful.
Ladder: You are dreaming of risky transitions and the desire to get to a higher vantage point that may feel unsupported. A ladder is an effective but unstable method of getting to a higher vantage point. Anything that helps a person move from one level to another is symbolically connected to transitioning from one realm of operating to another. However, a ladder is a tool used in the construction or fixing of things, so in this way, the symbolic meaning connects to the ability to achieve some sort of goal. The presence of a ladder in a dream suggests that there is a transition afoot that may also connect to achieving some goal or fixing some area of your life that requires attention. If the dream merits the use of a ladder, but the ladder is either ignored or inaccessible in some way, you may be missing the very thing needed for success with some goal in life. A broken ladder may be a warning that you are not following the necessary step-by-step process to achieve your goals. The instability of a ladder requires a slow and centered approach to your climb, signaling a need to take each step in your life with care, grace, and ease.
Ladybug: A symbol of good fortune, the ladybug is connected to renewal and regeneration. When a ladybug appears in a dream, you are being graced with good luck.
Lake: All water in dreams relates to your emotional life. A lake has a measure of depth and plenty that is hidden from the initial view, but is not so deep that it cannot be explored. As a mostly placid body of water, it represents your feelings and the possibility of drawing sustenance and comfort from connecting to that part of your nature. Anything that happens in and around a lake in your dreams is revealing elements of your emotions and emotional issues at the time of such a dream. Consider the size of the lake and the movement or lack thereof of the water within it for clues as to what sort of consciousness is being expressed.
Lamb: As a baby sheep, the lamb adds the quality of innocence to the symbolic meaning. (See Sheep.)
Lamp: Any light is a symbol of ideas and the ability to see things more clearly. A lamp is a small amount of this light designed to illuminate a small area in order to focus on something specific. Since it is portable, it represents your ability to focus the light of consciousness on various areas that need to be explored or highlighted. The state of a lamp in your dreams is revealing your current ability to see clearly in some area of your life.
Land: We are divided into the two realms of the conscious mind and the unconscious mind. The earth is equally bisected into land and ocean, with the land connecting to the conscious mind. Everything we can see and are easily aware of is like the land of our minds. In this way, any land formation in a dreamscape is asking you to consider some area of your self-concept that is part of your conscious domain or that you have the natural human capacity to be aware of. Land represents parts of yourself that are not hidden, but are exposed and available for exploration. Use the terrain of the land in your dream to understand more deeply what the dream is asking you to look at. High terrain and mountains are the areas of consciousness that can only be explored by looking upward, into higher ground of thought and consideration. A deep jungle is still consciousness, but more of your hidden nature. Chasms or land masses separated by water indicate that there are thought processes or patterns that are separate, distinct, or in need of integration.
Languages: This is a symbol of unconscious messages that are not yet decipherable or understood. This interpretation applies only to a language that you do not know or that was created out of the dream world. If you know more than one language, then dreaming in different languages is a reflection of where you are in your life and what the language in question means for you from your past. Words are the basis of all thought and all reality. When words that you do not understand show up in a dream, the unconscious is deliberately masking some information by changing the rules. Use the context of the dream to assess the height of the stakes. This would apply both to the information that is being expressed by the unconscious and to the emotional meaning attached to your reaction to being unable to decipher any literal meaning. If you recognize the language being spoken by virtue of sounds and cadences, then apply whatever associations you have with that culture to the dream interpretation. If the language is made-up and you can remember any specific words, sounds, or phrases, use them in your process to see if you can draw any parallels with words you know. There may be a rhythmic or phonic connection to the nonsense words of your dream. Do not be afraid of being overly literal. If someone else is speaking to you in the dream, then the message is coming from the deep unconscious. If you are speaking the foreign tongue yourself, it may indicate that the new information is already integrated as part of you. More investigation will likely need to be done before you will be able to understand and utilize the information being presented.
Lap: Your lap is both about the body and about a particular posture of making space on which to hold something or someone. It is a sign of intimacy and connection to sit on someone’s lap or allow someone to sit on your lap. In this way, anything that involves a lap in your dreams is asking you to consider your relationship to intimacy and affection. Holding someone or something in your lap indicates your perception of that individual or thing as dear to you. You sitting in someone’s lap expresses a desire to be comforted in some way. Consider the meaning of the other people involved as aspects of your own personality that either are in need of nurturing and care or that can offer those things to you.
Laptop: A laptop offers the power of a computer as a completely self-contained and portable commodity. A computer represents highly sophisticated levels of mental organization, thought, and memory. A computer is a symbolic representation of the brain itself. (See Computer.)
Laryngitis: The voice is central to all expression and communication for human beings. Laryngitis is the losing of one’s voice and is a symbol for the limitations connected to not having the ability to express yourself with power and certainty. A dream that involves laryngitis is exploring the consequences of not being able to find your own voice. If a person in your dream has laryngitis, consider the character aspect that the individual represents; it is that quality that is unable to speak through you. Laryngitis is a temporary condition, so the limitation that such a dream is expressing should be considered to be something that will eventually pass.
Laughter: Joy is one of the most fundamental principles of life at its highest expression. Laughter is the expression of joy itself, so it is the principle of joy in action. A dream that features laughter is expressing a desire for more joy. If someone is laughing in your dream, interpret that character aspect of self as a quality that is needed to connect more deeply to joy. The shadow side of this symbol is the embarrassment that can be associated with feeling that others are laughing at you. If you are suffering from feelings of shame in any area of your life, such a dream may be helping you process this.
Laundry: Laundry is about cleaning and cleansing. Most laundry is made up of clothing, and this relates to protection and self-expression and the periodic need to clean off old energy and things that have happened in the recent past.
Lava: Lava is molten rock that emerges from below the surface of the earth’s crust. As such, it is a symbol of the pure potential associated with land that is completely new. Land represents the conscious mind, and in a way, lava is a sort of pre-consciousness that is beginning to make itself known, but in such a raw form, it is still dangerous to experience. A dream about lava is connecting you to this primal process of reinvention that is sometimes a part of the evolution of a human life.
Lawn: A house is a symbol of the self, and the lawn is the land around a house, representing the public persona and an individual’s relationship to health, growth, abundance, and prosperity. The state that a lawn is in is a reflection of these concepts at the time of the dream. (See Grass.)
Lawyer: A lawyer deals in details, structure, and left-brained organization. As a character aspect, any lawyer in a dream is the part of your personality that can be called forth when there is a need to identify specific distinctions around some issue in your life that might be initially confusing.
Leak: A leak is a breakdown in the structural integrity of something such that its ability to contain a liquid or gas is compromised. As such, there is a barely noticeable diminution of the contained substance. The source of a leak can be difficult to find, and unless it is repaired, the leak will continue to do more and more damage. As a symbol, a leak can relate to anything that is slowly robbing you of passion, life force, energy, substance, or some other valuable essence. Look to your life where some persistently challenging person or circumstance is eroding your sense of power little by little.
Leash: A leash is about connectivity and control. Whoever holds the leash is in charge. If you are holding a leash in a dream, then you are exploring issues of control. Consider to what or whom the leash is attached and add that distinction to your dream. A dog on a leash might be about attempts to control love and loyalty. Another person on a leash is a symbol of attempting to rein in the qualities represented by the character aspects of that person. If you are on a leash, there may be a need to submit or surrender control to another person, institution, or circumstance in your life.
Leaves: Leaves are a plant’s respiratory system and the structure through which they turn sunlight into energy. As such, they are a symbol for the power and abundance associated with the earth’s never-ending supply of life itself. Consider the state and structure of the leaves in your dream. On a plant or a tree, leaves are a symbol of the ability of life to sustain itself and how that lives in you. If the leaves are in the process of falling, turning colors, or decay, they are more connected to the way in which life unfolds as a series of cycles. Leaves that are compromised in some way are reflecting some breakdown in your ability to take energy in and convert it to proper and productive use for personal gain.
Ledge: A narrow shelf-like structure found high above the ground on buildings and in nature, a ledge has the almost contradictory nature of being traversable, but not without some danger of falling. It is this precariousness that holds its symbolic meaning. To be “on the ledge” is synonymous with being highly stressed and in danger of becoming more so. A ledge in your dreams is pointing to this state in some arena of your life. Where are you at the very edge of your ability to hold things together?
Leeches: Leeches are from the family of worms whose primary association is their capacity to feed off the blood of mammals. Even the term “leech” refers to the slow siphoning off of something, and in this way the leech itself is a symbol of a slow, methodical loss of passion, energy, or life force. Since leeches are mostly aquatic, there is an emotional quality to the meaning of them as a symbol.
Legs: The legs primarily function for standing and walking. In this way, they are symbolically linked to all the ways in which you must stand up for yourself, take a stand on something, or stand up for the rights of others. In terms of the mobility function, legs are linked to how you are moving about in your life, your power and efficacy in how you are walking your talk. Consider what is happening with your legs or the legs of a person within your dream and apply the qualities being exhibited to these principal ideas. A broken leg is an indication of something that is inhibiting your powerful movement through life that will eventually heal. Legs that are too weak to support you indicate a moment when you are unable to give yourself the foundation you need.
Leopard: All cats relate to the power of the feminine principle. The larger the cat, the greater the power of this totem. As with the jaguar and the cougar, the spots of the leopard are connected to the beauty and sensuality that this animal totem represents. The leopard is very adept at climbing trees, which extends its symbolic reach into the upper realms of consciousness. When such a cat appears in your dreams, you are being called to your predatory nature.