Oasis: A rare area of water in the desert, an oasis is a symbol for anything of sustenance that exists within a great range of that thing’s absence. If an oasis appears in a dream, look to where you are feeling an extreme sense of lack in your life. The oasis is an indication that something you desperately need for your journey through life can suddenly appear in order to get you through even the most difficult of times. This could connect to love, money, affection, or rest.
Obelisk: An obelisk is a phallic symbol that is also a spiritual object representing the power of the masculine principle. If there is an obelisk in your dream, you are calling upon this energy to serve you in some area of your life.
Obesity: If you dream of being obese, you are connecting with the consequences of overindulgence in some area of your life. If you have issues of weight in your waking life, such a dream may be more literal. Extra body fat can also be a symbolic expression of protection and avoidance of deeper issues.
Obstacles: Something that gets in your way in a dream is a symbolic block to moving forward in your waking life. This is one of the most frequent dream images and has a very literal meaning associated with it. Life is often experienced as a function of facing the obstacles that we must traverse to get from where we are to where we desire to be. This is a daily struggle. Dreams often help us balance out our sense of frustration and despair as we face this particular challenge, which is an absolutely universal human experience. There are two elements to consider when making an interpretation of a dream of this kind: what is causing the obstacle, and what part of the body or type of movement is being blocked. The more important of the two is how you are stuck. If the feet or legs are involved, this connects to how you are moving through your life. Feet guide us in the direction we choose, so if you cannot walk, your dream is reflecting an inability to make a new choice or find your footing firmly on the ground you desire. If the legs are more prominently blocked, then your direction might be clear, but your ability to move forward is being hindered. If your arms are being impacted the most, such as with netting, webs, or ropes, then issues of capability are probably at play. If this is the case, there may be some area in your life where your effectiveness, strength, or creative power is what is being blocked. Some dreams of this nature involve obstacles to the face where something is blocking your ability to see, hear, or use your voice effectively. When this occurs, look to a situation in your life where you are not able to be as expressive as you need to be. The other crucial element is what is causing the obstacle. Some obstacles that often appear in dreams are nets, quicksand, sticky floors, ground that opens up, and heavy legs or feet. If you can make an association to the stuff that is blocking you, add this to your interpretation.
Ocean: The ocean represents the unconscious mind. It is the much greater presence on our planet, where land covers about one quarter of the total surface area of the earth and ocean makes up three quarters. However, consider the depths of the ocean and you now have a sense of the mysteries of what is contained in the lower kingdom of the unconscious mind. Anytime the ocean is featured in a dream, you are in the realm of the unconscious mind. All water is also connected symbolically to your feelings and your emotional nature. When that water is as vast as the ocean, such a dream may indicate an overwhelming amount of emotional material being expressed.
Octopus: The octopus is the ultimate symbol of flexibility and adaptability. We must add to this the ability to maneuver in the realm of the unconscious, as an octopus’s habitat is the ocean, the symbolic environment that connects us to that which is below the surface of awareness. The octopus brings powerful medicine in the experience of exploring the depths of your hidden nature when it appears in a dream.
Office: The office as a setting is a place of work, structure, schedules, rigidity, and all things left-brained. If a dream takes place in an office, you can consider such a dream to be about this part of your consciousness. Anything that happens in your dream office relates to the need for attention to this side of your nature. If you work in an office, the dream may be more literal than symbolic; it is a fairly common stress dream to be constantly at work in your sleeping experience.
Oil: Oil was once plant life; it comes from deep within the earth and holds the ancient energy of the sun in its structure. Oil has an enormous number of uses today, from fueling the modern world to providing the lubricant necessary for machines to run. As a symbol, it may relate to any number of these fundamental uses as the basis for functioning in a more powerful way. Oil is also a symbol for wealth and riches and a measure of abundance. Keep in mind that when oil is used as fuel, it has great consequences for the environment, and this darkness is built into its symbolism as the darker side of abundance.
Oil Spill: Oil itself is a symbol of wealth, abundance, power, and the reserve of riches that has great consequences when it is used or spilled. It is the anti-heroic representation of abundance in a negative form, and we become acutely aware of the danger associated with it when it spills and poisons the environment. An oil spill in your dream is asking you to rethink your true relationship to abundance, wealth, and power.
Old: You are connecting to an archetypal character aspect of yourself who connects with wisdom and guidance. The wise old man and his female counterpart, the crone, are staples in Jungian psychology, as they are the archetypes that represent human wisdom. This is a character aspect shared by every human being on the planet, and it connects us to our inner guidance and our highest thought. We can only connect to this powerful energy when we can learn from our mistakes, a trait often associated with the insight that comes with age and is usually unavailable to us in our youth. An older person whom you know from life may also represent wisdom, but an interpretation of any person must connect to the individual’s traits as you experience them in life. When the old man or the crone appears in archetypal fashion, they will not be known to you personally. They may offer insight, wisdom, or a gift. This archetypal character aspect is often the first one that most people encounter on their inner journey toward integration. This is because all human beings have access to the wisdom that comes with age, making this archetype very accessible within each of us.
Olympics: The Olympics are an opportunity to use healthy athletic competition to replace the aggression of war for dominance and superiority. As a symbol, they represent the highest form of these darker human qualities. If you dream that you are at the Olympics, you are looking to take the higher road around something in your life that is causing you to feel aggressive and competitive.
One: One represents beginnings and is the starting point of existence. In human terms, it is the self alone. It is the idea before any action is taken. As such, it embodies the concept of potential and that which has yet to happen. In fact, the energy of one is limited by its inability to do anything by itself. However, it also connects to stillness and the cultivation of desire that precedes movement. One is the beginning of the journey, which can be a very exciting energy. However, on the shadow side this can bring with it the challenge of loneliness and isolation.
Onions: The onion is known for two things: its ability to induce tears and the many layers that make up its structure. Dreaming of them may indicate one or both of these inherent meanings. You may be expressing a level of emotional expression that is not quite authentic. On the other hand, onions may symbolize the process one must go through to get to the heart of any matter that can only be done layer by layer in a slow, methodical fashion.
Operation: A surgical procedure is a healing proposition designed to correct some malfunction, remove something that is not working properly, or replace something that has ceased to work at all. As a symbol, an operation is evidence that such a healing and transformation is going on in your life that is invasive and frightening and carries with it both a measure of risk as well as a level of profound necessity.
Oral Sex: This dream image connects to the integration of verbal qualities and power and communication issues in general. While some elements of sexual dreams are just that—sexual dreams expressing unrealized desire—there is symbolic meaning to each aspect of this symbol. Sex represents the desire for union, the joining together or integration of separate ways of being or other personality aspects. The oral aspect of this particular act indicates that communication is the area you are investigating. If you are orally pleasuring a penis, you may be appreciating and experiencing a need to take more aggressive power into your speech. To be orally pleasuring a woman’s genitalia means that the receptive, sensitive, or creative elements of your personality want to be recognized and embraced. The active position indicates a higher level of urgency than if you are the recipient. If taking on new ways of communicating can be seen as an ongoing process, receiving oral pleasure connects more to the beginning of that process, while giving it might be associated with the end. The object of your affection will give you a great deal of clarity on the matter at hand. This is where many people are disturbed or even horrified by sexual content, for many dreams have us partnering with people from our life with whom we would not ordinarily have sex. However, to the unconscious mind, sex is a symbolic expression of union and has none of the societal or personal stigma we may attach to it. If the person is known to you, use his or her character aspects to indicate what qualities you are integrating into your communication. If the person is a stranger, use whatever information you can recall from the dream to inform your investigation.
Orange: Transformation and change are represented by the color orange. Orange is also related to sexuality, but through the feminine principle of intimacy and transformation. It is the color most associated with creativity.
Oranges: A fruit is essentially a seed and carries with it the potential for something new to be created along with the sustenance needed to feed that new thing. Oranges are this but are also a symbol of sweetness and abundance, as they were once considered a royal fruit available only to those who possessed great wealth. There is a modern association with the orange that connects to its capacity to bring health and vitality with its abundance of vitamin C. Any of these meanings may be present with a dream that features oranges.
Orbs: Orbs are a phenomenon that emerged with digital photography where phenomena of spherical light that elude the human eye are captured by the camera. Orbs are considered by many to be evidence of energy from other dimensions. Spheres of light are powerful representations in the dream world of evidence of the mysterious and unexplainable and should be considered a spiritual symbol of great magnitude.
Orchestra: An orchestra is a group of musicians playing various musical instruments, with each playing something different but connected in one common expression of passion. The symbolic meaning connects with music as a representation of human emotions that are so powerful that they erupt into higher levels of expression. Additionally, an orchestra connects to the power of aligning many different thoughts into one focused intention.
Organ: Any musical instrument relates to a passionate expression of deep emotions. The organ creates a powerful sound that is most associated with religious music, and the presence of one in your dream may be reflecting your views on organized religion.
Organs: Most organs in the body can be understood as being part of the system of processing the life force itself. If you dream of an organ in your body, consider the function of that organ to deepen your interpretation. How well are you meeting life’s challenges and handling day-to-day functions?
Orgasm: An orgasm is an explosion of complex activity in the brain and nervous system that stimulates an enormous amount of pleasure through the release of neurotransmitters and the contraction of certain muscles. Of note is that there is a center of the brain that governs behavioral control that is completely shut down for the moments of orgasm that provides a layer of symbolic interpretation connected with total and utter surrender to the bliss and pleasure that life has to offer. It is this spectacular level of bliss that is represented by the orgasm; however, most dreams that involve orgasm often relate to the physiological experience of having one in the sleep state or being unable to achieve one in the dream state. In the former experience, a sleep orgasm may be the body’s way of tapping into a natural mechanism for stress relief and sexual expression, and it may be this very physiological need that gives rise to the erotic dreams that create the experience. Many men describe sexual dreams in which they can never achieve the orgasm they desire, and this may have physiological elements as well, but may also represent a level of bliss and ecstasy that they are unable to cultivate in life that may connect to other passions and self-expression that have nothing to do with the sex act. While neuroscience provides a great deal of understanding of how sex, arousal, and orgasm function within the brain, the actual reason for and presence of this phenomenon remains a mystery, and this includes its presence in the dream state.
Orgy: Many sex dreams have a physiological impetus; however, the content can still be interpreted symbolically. All sex acts represent some need or desire for integration and the assimilation of various qualities into your ability to express them. An orgy is a desire to incorporate a number of different modes of expression into one experience of consciousness, like attempting to align various ideas or thoughts into a tangible and organized cultivation of desire. In this way, the sexual element is rendered irrelevant, and you should look to your life to see what is requiring more resources and skill in order to meet the demands of a more passionate expression. With regard to your personal experience of your sexuality, an orgy may be reflecting your ideas around taking risks or trying new things.
Origami: This complex system of folding paper generates an end result of great beauty. Paper is symbolically related to thoughts and ideas in a potential form. The many complex folds of origami represent all of the different and precise thought shifts and changes of mind that may be required in order to achieve some ultimate goal.
Orphan: We experience our identity and sense of self as almost exclusively connected to the parenting we receive. To have no connection to those parents is to have a disconnected sense of identity. This can be either devastating or liberating, and the sensations of the dream will reveal more detail for you. An orphan in a dream may represent an idea, choice, behavior, or pattern that is not connected to the modeling you received from your parents. When a person loses his or her parents to death, the individual becomes an orphan, and such an image in a dream may relate to that fear or the processing of grief after it has occurred.
Ostrich: This bird is known for burying its head in the sand, which is actually a myth. When an ostrich shows up in a dream, look for areas in your life where you might be in denial or practicing avoidance.
Otter: The otter as a symbol is all about joy and playfulness. As a creature that lives in water, the otter connects to the feminine principle and being grounded in the earth. Otters play in the waters of emotion and unconscious expression, and when they appear in a dream, they remind us that the aspects of life that are emotional in nature are to be approached with lightheartedness and reveled in.
Outer Space: All of the solar system and beyond is a symbol for our consciousness, and outer space represents the far reaches of that part of your psyche that you can be aware of but that you can never quite know with a degree of intimacy or clarity. Dreams that take place in outer space have an existential element that may indicate that you are pondering the higher notions of your humanity.
Outlet: An outlet is the structure that gives you access to the constant flow of electricity within the structure of a building. That electrical current represents the creative source that all human beings are plugged into, and an outlet is the symbol of your ability to connect to that power.
Ovaries: These organs of female reproduction are a symbolic representation of the power to create life. Ovaries featured in a dream relate to this creative power. If you are a woman, such a dream may be taken more literally and connect to your relationship with your own reproductive cycle.
Oven: An oven is a heat source that allows you to cook and bake food. Heat is always symbolically connected to change and transformation, and food represents nurturance and self-care. The state of the oven in your dream is reflecting your relationship to your ability to change, transform, and take care of yourself at a fundamental level.
Owl: You are tapping into the shadow side of your wisdom. Owls are nocturnal animals with a great ability to see and hunt in the dark. This makes them symbolically connected to the darker, more hidden sides of human nature. They help us to navigate the more unseen elements of our humanity. Owls have long been associated with intuition and mysticism, and in some traditions they are considered omens. They carry great animal medicine and are to be greatly revered if they come to you in a dream.