Microwave: The principle behind a microwave is its ability to speed up molecules such that heat is created. Heat is symbolic of energetic increase, passion, change, and power. A microwave in a dream relates to a desire to make things happen at a much faster pace than is natural. This may or may not be beneficial, and you must take into consideration the potential consequences for overriding the natural flow of things if a microwave is featured in a dream.

Military: Anything associated with the military falls under the auspices of the warrior archetype. The warrior’s job is to divide the world into right and wrong, black or white. He then defends this distinction with his life. This is a powerful aspect of human consciousness, and anything that relates to the military that appears in a dream is connected to this profound power. There are more pedestrian elements to this symbol that include regimentation, rigidity, and inflexibility.

Milk: This mammal-made drink is considered a fundamental food source, especially for infants and children. As a symbol, it is the ultimate source of nutrition and care from the feminine principle. There is a harkening to the maternal instincts with milk; hence the term “mother’s milk” to connote the very essence of that which will comfort and sustain us.

Mine: A mine is essentially a tunnel dug very deep underground for the purpose of cultivating some raw material. Since land is associated with consciousness, a mine represents what is possible to gain when digging beneath the surface. If you know what the product of the mine is, you can add that distinction to your interpretation. There is a great deal of danger associated with mining, and a mine is a place where tragedy can occur in an instant. The same could be said of the fear that is sometimes associated with self-investigation.

Mine Shaft: A mine is a place beneath the surface of the earth where raw materials are found and cultivated. The shaft is the portal through which you get to the place below. From the surface, it is the evidence that an excavation has already taken place and that access to what is available has already been established. This is a fairly common dream image and indicates that there may be a need to revisit the dark and scary places below the surface of your consciousness in order to reap the benefit that is hidden in those realms. If the mine shaft seems abandoned, you are revisiting some insight or awareness that you have already mined, so look to past wisdom for your answers to today’s questions.

Minister: A minister is a religious leader, and as a person who appears in your dream, he or she is a character aspect of your own personality. From a purely archetypal perspective, a minister represents your access to the structure of a spiritual practice. However, your personal association with religion and your life experience with it must be taken into account when you interpret such a figure in a dream.

Mirror: A dream with a mirror in it is asking you to consider what you see in your life. What we experience in our consciousness is reflected back to us based on our inner beliefs, and if a mirror features prominently in a dream, you are contemplating this paradigm. Mirrors can be confounding and confusing. Not only do they reverse everything that they reflect, but their images can give a sense of reality that they do not actually possess. They accurately reflect an image, but are not the image itself. A mirror is comparable to the basic principle of cause and effect. You can use it effectively as a tool to examine the current state of things. However, in order to change what you don’t like in the reflection, you must work on the object being reflected rather than alter the mirror itself. Who or what one sees in a mirror in a dream represents that which the unconscious mind is seeing. Consider whether the mirror image is accurate to your self-perspective. Looking straight into the mirror and being comfortable with what you see says that your self-appraisal is honest and real. If what you see seems off-kilter in some way, it could be an invitation to look at where you may be being inauthentic. This could indicate something that you are deliberately hiding from others or something more mundane, such as being more concerned with how others see. The condition of a mirror should also be taken into account. For instance, a cracked mirror may be helping you process a feeling of ominous bad luck due to the old wives’ tale common in Western culture that breaking a mirror brings dire consequences to the one who breaks it. A handheld mirror might be offering an intimate glimpse of the self, one that is designed to privately monitor the image you project to the world. A full-length mirror could be pointing toward the need to see more of the whole picture of your current life situations. Someone else’s mirror might mean your individual sense of self is being determined at this time based on someone else’s values or perceptions. A mirror can possess the magical property of showing the truth about a situation when called upon, such as the Evil Queen’s Magic Mirror in Snow White. Explore the theme of the dream for its profound truth.

Miscarriage: A pregnancy is a symbolic expression of a new idea, project, direction, or choice to create something that is still in its gestational stage. A miscarriage is simply a change in direction such that you will need to begin again. While such a dream may have emotional connotations to it, the actual meaning connects more to making space for something new to be created.

Mistress: The “other woman” is a staple in many cultures where a man goes outside of his marriage vows in order to have his sexual needs met. At the heart of this structure from an interpretive perspective is the circuitous route that’s being used to generate a fundamental human experience that partnership is designed to provide. If someone appears in your dream and is indeed identified as either your or someone else’s mistress, that person is a character aspect of your own personality. The representation here is about the desire to connect to intimacy without emotional risk.

Model: A model embodies a certain aesthetic of beauty and is therefore a symbolic ideal to which many people aspire. The challenge with this image is that there is a great deal of false identification associated with this ideal, and your interpretation must include your personal relationship to beauty and your sense of personal attractiveness. A model as a character aspect in a dream may represent ideals of beauty to which you aspire, but may just as easily connect to the impossibility of such aspirations.

Mold: Mold is a mostly invisible fungus that makes itself known when certain conditions are present, often on food that has been left for long periods of time at certain temperatures. Other molds present a level of toxicity in homes and other buildings. Since molds are essentially unwanted, they have a symbolic meaning associated with disgust and decay. There is a secondary meaning when mold is present that connects with long periods of disregard to matters of cleanliness. If mold appears in a dream, you are being called to take a look at the impact of ignoring certain matters for long periods of time.

Monastery: A monastery is a place of both retreat and extreme spiritual devotion. In a dream, this setting is asking you for a particular increase in your spiritual devotion and self-reflection.

Money: Any dream that involves money is connecting to the principles of abundance, power, and freedom. In a dream, money often represents your inner resources. Your sense of personal value, power, or the ability to make something happen can be expressed by the symbol of money. As a symbol, large amounts of money can represent any sort of achievement or sense of fulfillment as an unconscious expression of desires met. No matter what the financial situation in your waking life, your dream state can find you available for limitless abundance or attached to absolute lack. Since money in life is symbolic in nature, in the dream world it can represent any form of abundance. The appearance of this in a dream could connect to the acquisition of any desire, from a new sense of inner riches to outward expressions of expansion such as a new relationship, job, or other appearance of a heart’s desire. On the opposite side of the spectrum, money in a dream could be pointing out feelings of lack that you are experiencing in life. As a wish fulfillment or compensatory dream, connecting to money could be balancing out feelings of limitation. Money that is counterfeit is revealing a relationship to abundance that is false or inauthentic. Though it may look real, it has been manufactured with dubious intentions. In a dream, this might point to ways in which you are (or someone in your life is) trying to get away with presenting yourself as bigger than you really are. Also be willing to look at the various aspects of your current situation; are there circumstances in your life that are costing you more than you can afford? This can apply to both material and emotional conditions. Look at the amount of money or lack of money in the dream as connoting how much or little of some needed commodity appears in your life. This can be spiritual, emotional, or physical. How abundant do you feel?

Monkey: Whenever an animal is present in a dream, it is pointing to a more instinctual approach to life. You may be obsessed with a pervasive thought pattern that won’t let your mind rest. The proverbial “monkey on your back” or the agitation of the “monkey mind” may be what this dream is calling forth. A monkey may also be indicative of the ability to mimic behavior by rote, but without a heartfelt understanding of the deeper meaning associated with the choices you are making. From an aboriginal perspective, the medicine available through the totem of the monkey relates to curiosity and playful energy.

Monuments: This symbol connects to collective expressions of cultural greatness. Structures such as the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, and the Great Pyramids are all examples of cultures erecting monuments to their own importance. This has been happening since the beginning of civilization. These enormous expressions of power and technology are designed to celebrate the accomplishments of a society and provide a collective projection of greatness that helps the masses feel safe and protected as well as proud of their accomplishments and feel a connection to their history. Such a dream may be calling you to leave your mark on the world in a very big way.

Moon (Moonlight): Any dream with the moon or moonlight in it relates to the feminine aspect of the life force energy. The moon is a very powerful symbol, just as it is an enormous energetic force in our daily life on Earth. As the heavenly counterpart to the masculine energy of the sun, the moon represents the feminine aspects of life. The primary essence of the moon is its constant changeability. In this regard, the moon symbolizes the ephemeral quality of life and all of the different cycles that human beings experience. If the moon plays a prominent role in your dream, your interpretation should begin with the notion that change is afoot. A distinction should be made about how the moon appears in your dream. If the moon itself is visible to you in the skyscape of your dream, then you are looking at the source of emotional power. If your dream illuminates the light of the moon itself as it falls upon Earth, then you are dreaming of the effect or impact of the moon’s magic. If your dream actually takes place on the moon, then you are literally visiting the seat of your unconscious directly; such a dream should be considered as a very deliberate snapshot of your current experience of how the invisible side of life is impacting the visible. The emotional side of life is represented by the moon. This includes all that is changeable and all that responds to the ebb and flow of life. Because of its unquestionable universality to the human race, the moon in dreams should be considered with very broad strokes of interpretation.

Moose: Stately and powerful, the moose is a study in understatement. We rarely see moose in any other posture but stillness, but the amount of brutal strength they possess is astronomical. They are a symbol of restrained power and aggression. They are enormous in size, yet graceful in movement. These contradictions are at the very heart of their medicine as an animal totem. When the moose appears in a dream, you are being introduced to a level of great power that is best understood as a function of that power’s potential rather than of actual expressions of violence.

Morning: Daytime represents that which you are conscious of. In the twenty-four-hour cycle, the daylight hours relate to the masculine principle of taking action. Morning is the very beginning of the day and in this way relates to the initial movement in any project or new direction in your waking life. You may have a dream that takes place in the morning when some new cycle is beginning or when you are approaching a new project, relationship, or course of action.

Mosque: 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 a mosque as connecting to matters of spirituality and whatever personal feelings you harbor about organized religion. If a mosque is not your typical house of worship, your dream may be asking you to consider the similarities between religious beliefs rather than the differences.

Mosquito: Any flying insect relates to the world of thoughts and the intellect. As a pest, the mosquito connects to patterns of thought that can be both annoying and ultimately harmful. In life, mosquitos carry diseases, and in this way they symbolize the capacity for undesirable thought patterns to cause a great deal of harm if you allow them to land and infect you with their negativity. (See Insects.)

Moth: The moth has the same meaning as the butterfly, but it relates to the shadow side of the equation, as it is a nocturnal creature. (See Butterfly.)

Mother: See Parents.

Mother Mary, Quan Yin: This is an archetypal character aspect that represents the healing that occurs through the principles of love and compassion. While there are many other archetypal representations of the power of love, this entry will limit itself to these two, as they are perhaps the most widely recognized symbols of divine forgiveness in the history of the human race. In dream work, they should be treated symbolically as archetypes, and their appearance in a dream indicates that you are experiencing a high level of self-discovery and integration. Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Quan Yin, Buddhist goddess of mercy and compassion, embody the feminine principle in its highest evolution. The feminine principle connects to the power of love and receptivity. Both of these figures are revered by millions as the purveyors of forgiveness and unconditional love. Though the traditions that created each of them could not be more different, what they offer to those who turn to them in their hour of need is exactly the same. One of the most difficult challenges that all human beings face is the process of forgiveness, and the ability to forgive one’s self is particularly elusive. The human mind is not built for unconditional love, even though it is a concept that many who travel the path of service continually strive to achieve. No matter how she may appear to you, the archetype of the divine mother can help you inch your way out of shame and resentment and move toward the healing that can only come through love and mercy. The appearance of one of these great figures in a dream is to put you on notice that you are in a moment of elevating consciousness and self-integration. It is not uncommon for any archetypal figure to be silent in a dream; it is their mere presence that embodies the impact of the dream. If words and messages are present in the dream, take them to heart and do so literally. However, if this is not the case, your best use of such a dream is silent gratitude for the gift of such a powerful experience of elevated consciousness. (See Quan Yin.)

Motorcycle: All vehicles are symbols of how you move about in your life. A motorcycle is very similar to a car in terms of the day-to-day movement through your social and communal experience. However, a motorcycle adds an element of speed, power, and excitement to the interpretation. You may dream of a motorcycle when you crave these elements in your journey.

Mountain: You are dreaming of challenges or obstacles that you must surmount in your life, especially as they might relate to new ideas, constructs, or choices. Mountains are formed when two opposing vectors of movement in the earth’s crust push against each other and rise upward to form a new land mass. Therefore, the mountain is symbolic of the newly formed, high vantage place that rises up out of conflict and confrontation. Remember that changes on our planet’s surface first begin in the combustible core below. This relates them to the passion, aggression, and other friction-causing emotional states that occur in the lower depths of the unconscious that, in the long run, build new, higher terrain upon which you can see more of your life.

Mountain Lion: All cats relate to the power of the feminine principle. The larger the cat, the greater the power of this totem. The mountain lion is one of the smaller of the great cats, and the association with the terrain on which it is found connects to the ability to traverse higher levels of consciousness.

Mouse: A mouse is a very small animal and thus symbolizes a sense of timidity through phrases such as “timid as a mouse.” Mice remain mostly hidden behind walls, and in this way they represent ideas that are mostly hidden but that can be heard, figuratively speaking, scratching away underneath the surface or behind the scenes.

Movies: The creation of your own version of life is featured in this dream. Movies as a symbol connect to our memories and desires as well as a need to control our reality. Movies are so ingrained in Western culture that it is difficult to separate them out from the human experience as something distinct from how we live life day to day. This is especially so with regard to the way in which a film can capture historical events and present altered versions of moments in time that may be seen by future viewers as actual facts. Research has shown that the areas of the brain that are stimulated by the images we see on film are the same as those activated by real events. This blurs the line between fantasy and reality in an alarming way. Movies and dreams are not very different from each other. What is captured on film has a way of becoming real in the imagination of the human race. Even the most unbelievable storyline is made possible through the magic of film. In this way, the symbolic meaning of the movies is the incredible drive the human race has to make our most passionate desires come to life. A common dream that many people report is to have the sense that the dream itself is a movie. The first distinction that should be made when considering the symbolic meaning of a movie in a dream is which side of desire the film is addressing. One connects to manifesting a fantasy into reality and the other embodies rewriting history as you perhaps wish it was. In either case, the presence of a movie in a dream is likely expressing a wish to have more control over how life is being perceived. Ask yourself what area of your life is feeling unreal or that you wish were different.

Moving: A shift in identity or consciousness is at hand. Your home is the strongest symbol connected to your sense of self, and the process of moving indicates that great change is at hand. There is chaos in this transformation, so the dream may be expressing some area in your life where change is happening at such a fast or intense rate that things feel all taken apart. Trust that this is only a process and eventually everything will feel in alignment once again.

Mug: Any container of liquid to be consumed is symbolic of your ability to have immediate access to take in some form of sustenance. A mug is usually associated with a warm beverage, which has connotations of comfort. A mug in your dreams may be expressing a desire to feel nurtured. Many people might associate a mug with drinking coffee, and in this way this image could relate to the need for stimulation.

Muscles: Muscles are a predominantly male image that is symbolically connected to strength, power, and sexual masculinity. Muscles are often hyper-exaggerated and in this way are representative of what can happen when there is too much emphasis put on these qualities. If you have obvious musculature in the dream, you are seeing the evidence of a great deal of effort being put in the doing of some aspect of your life. If someone in the dream is very muscular, use the character-aspect technique and assign that part of your personality an extra dose of strength and power.

Music: Music is the most exalted form of expression and universal communication that the human race has. Any dream that features music is connecting both to a deep passion to express as well as the fundamental structure of life itself. Music is mathematical in nature. This is what makes it perfectly universal. Music might be considered the highest form of creative expression available to the human race. This is evidenced by the importance our society places on music and musicians and the powerful influence that music exerts over people. In all cultures throughout history, the presence of music has created the possibility of people being connected through joy. Not only does music have the capacity to bring human beings together in a shared sense of ecstasy, but it has been shown to exert a powerful influence over animals and plant life as well. When music appears in a dream, your first consideration should be to examine areas in your waking life where you are allowing yourself (or not allowing yourself) to connect to spontaneous self-expression. If you are hearing music in your dream, you may be receiving messages from your unconscious to open yourself to a deeper, more joyful sense of life. The degree of pleasantness of the music in your dream may represent your current relationship to your intuitive and emotional nature that goes beyond intellectual understanding. If you are making the music in the dream, you may want to examine areas of your life where creative endeavors are ready to thrive. If background music plays a pivotal role in your dream, you may want to consider this as an underscoring to subtle emotional issues that may be getting ready to emerge into your conscious awareness. In the same way that music deepens the emotional meaning in a film, music may serve to highlight the importance of a dream. If this seems to be the case, remember the manipulative nature of this use of music’s power. You may want to examine ways in which your emotions may be influencing your view of some area of your life in ways that may not be authentic. This could show up in the form of drama in a current situation that might be more effectively dealt with using a more pragmatic and less emotional approach.