Pacifier: A pacifier is a substitute for the nipple used to calm a baby by tricking it into thinking it is receiving milk. As a symbol, it represents the impulse to sedate some irritated aspect of self. Consider who was using the pacifier in your dream and that will give you a clue as to what part of your psyche is screaming at you. If you are struggling to find a pacifier or if it is compromised in some way, you may be dreaming about stress that needs to be soothed. Part of the meaning in this symbol connects to the actual ineffectual nature of a pacifier; it offers the temporary illusion that there is something present that is actually not. In this way, a pacifier in a dream could signal that you are attempting to create something without the authentic power to back up your intentions. If you are the parent of a baby that is of pacifier age, this dream could be more literal.

Package: The real significance of a package is what is inside of it, which is often unknown. In this way, at the heart of this symbol is the excitement of possibilities and the mystery involved. If the package in your dream is meant for you, it represents the acquisition of something new and the expectation that what you are receiving could be beneficial to you. Check the sensation of the dream itself; if there is fear or anxious anticipation about what the package might contain, it could be revealing a level of pessimism and fear-based thinking.

Packing: Packing is about the preparation for something that is in the future and has yet to happen. This is a fairly common recurring dream image that many people report. If this is the case for you, then you may be expressing anxiety about attempting to control that which is ultimately uncontrollable by imagining that you can prepare for any outcome by having the right things with you. The same meaning applies if this is not a recurring dream experience for you, but is likely to be associated with a specific life experience that is causing you anxiety. You can only prepare so much and then you have to let go of the outcome.

Pageant: A pageant is a cultural experience where individuals put certain elements of themselves on display in the spirit of competition. You may dream of a pageant when you feel that your abilities are being scrutinized and objectified. Since a pageant is often associated with the more superficial aspects of a person’s value, such a dream may be a response to feeling that some life experience is not allowing you to show the entire picture of who you are.

Paint: You are dreaming of the desire to make changes to some aspect of your life by covering over the past and starting fresh. If the paint in your dream was more artistic in nature, the impulse being expressed may connect to your desire to be creative. Paint itself is the stuff with which this form of alteration is executed. Symbolically, it should be considered as the raw material of change of an expressive nature. The control you are able to exert over this elusive liquid medium will illuminate for you how effectively you may be utilizing your current creative resources. The more control you are able to access, the more effective your expressiveness is likely to be and the more effectively you will be able to manifest your desired intention.

Painting: The action of painting is a creative expression that refreshes and/or rejuvenates. Painting a surface accomplishes several things. First and foremost, it covers whatever is on the receiving surface. It makes a blank canvas come alive with expression. A new image can also cover over an older one. A building or a room can be reinvented with fresh color, or that which was old and dingy can become clean with a fresh coat of paint. Seen in this fashion, painting will always connect on a symbolic level with the emergence of something new and expressive as a replacement of something old or lacking vibrancy. Dreaming of painting a room in your home should be explored through the symbolic meaning of that room. The outside of your home connects to your persona, the part of yourself that you show to the world.

Palace: A palace is the home of royalty or a very high-ranking head of state. All homes in dreams are symbols of your sense of self, and to dream of a palace is to dream of your highest, most aspirational and prosperous sense of self that you can embody. Look to the context of the dream, the people who are present in it, and what is occurring in order to round out your interpretation of your current relationship with abundance.

Panda: The panda is a powerful symbol of abundance and prosperity. Pandas eat bamboo, long a symbol of luck and good fortune; they also eat it slowly and endlessly, connecting the panda to the concept of never-ending prosperity. Compassion and patience are also energies associated with this beautiful, beloved creature. If the panda should visit your dreams, you are being guided by a very powerful totem.

Pants: As an article of clothing, pants relate to both protection for the physical body and personal self-expression. Though this is less so in our modern world, pants are still archetypally a masculine symbol, so wearing pants in a dream connects to where the ability to be decisive, take action, and make things happen is focused. Who is “wearing the pants” has long been an expression to connote the person with the power, and this may be reflected in your dream. The state, style, color, and other elements of the pants must be added to your interpretation.

Paparazzi: Paparazzi take pictures of celebrities with no regard for their personal thoughts and desires about the choice to be photographed, often capturing people in less than ideal situations. In this way, they represent the lack of privacy as well as the notion of modern-day scrutiny. If paparazzi inhabit your dreams, you may be feeling exposed in some way by some circumstance in your life that is robbing you of your privacy and revealing things to the world that you would prefer to keep behind the scenes.

Paper: This is a symbol for the potential for communication, creative expression, the making of plans, or committing an idea to something permanent by putting it on paper. Writing on paper connects to a need to gain clarity with your thoughts. Reading something written on paper is about attempting to absorb some new idea as an intrinsic part of your knowledge base. Folding a piece of paper might reveal a wish to keep something hidden from others or possibly to break something down into more manageable pieces of information. Doing something atypical with paper, such as origami or cutouts, could connect to being creative in a rebellious fashion. Blank paper might point to the requirement of definitive communication that you are not clear about or unwilling to commit to yet. Reams and reams of paper could align with an overwhelming sense of thoughts or feelings that need to be documented in some way. In the business world there is a phrase that something must “look good on paper,” referring to the strategic planning that precedes taking action. This highlights the impermanence that exists prior to the permanence that a hard copy of a “paper trail” implies.

Parachute: A parachute is a structure that uses air resistance to slow down the pace at which an object falls to the earth. Falling is a symbol of control, or more accurately the lack of it. A parachute then is the element of safety added so that you can surrender more thoroughly to something of which you have no control.

Parade: A parade is often a symbol for the more celebratory moments of your life moving inextricably forward. You can watch the parade, a symbol of being passive and inactive, as it passes you by. Or you can join the parade and move with the flow of life. Whichever relationship your dream is reflecting, you can think of the parade as the activities that will bring you acclaim and public recognition.

Paralyzed: Many dreams feature a form of paralysis. Part of this is physiological, because the brain paralyzes the body during REM sleep; this is because there is so much brain activity during this type of sleep that you would otherwise move about as if you were wide awake. When this paralysis isn’t strong enough, it can result in sleep disturbances such as talking and somnambulism. There is an order to how this process is supposed to work, where the paralysis lifts before consciousness returns. When this doesn’t occur properly, you feel awake while your body is still paralyzed. Because you are still in a dream state, you often dream that you are in the very room in which you are sleeping but you can’t move and there is often a terrifying sense of a presence in the room. This is what is known as night terrors, which are more common in children and are the origins of the boogeyman and the monster under the bed. There is a heightened sensitivity to energy during this state that may allow an individual to perceive things that are usually hidden from consciousness. Add the terror of being paralyzed to this sense of something in the room and there is often an assumption that whatever is in the room means you great harm. This is not necessarily true, and it is possible to use the mind to alter this experience into something that is very light and beautiful. However, it usually starts with terror. In this way, a dream of paralysis may be connected to this phenomenon and should be thought of as something different from an interpretable dream reflecting unconscious material. If your dream features being paralyzed as a part of a more complex typical dream, then it symbolizes something in your life that is holding you back and keeping you from taking definitive action.

Parents: You are connecting to your inner sense of authority; who you are as a result of the parents you had. The voices of our parents become deeply imbedded in us as parts of our personality. This correlates with whatever information they repeatedly presented to us during our formative years. If their messages were ones of criticism and limitation, they live on within us as those inhibiting parts of our inner monologue. If our parents were supportive and loving, the same would apply. Chances are that they gave us a combination of messages, some positive and others negative. Depending on where you are in your life, you may be more aligned with the challenges your parents presented than the gifts they gave. It is usually most effective to deal with feelings of anger and resentment before authentically moving into forgiveness. The quality of the interaction in the dream will clue you in to where you are in that process. While dreaming of your parents may inform your actual relationship with them, it is important to consider what the dream is saying about how you parent yourself.

Park: A park is a modern-day invention designed to create the illusion of a natural landscape that modern life has all but eradicated. It represents the desire to keep portions of your consciousness clean, pristine, and natural. In the world of symbolism, this relates to being relaxed and free of stress, fear, doubt, and concern for material things. A dream that takes place in a park reminds you of the part of you that is more connected to nature and therefore love.

Parking Lot: Cars and their movement represent the way you progress through your life on a day-to-day basis. Therefore a parking lot symbolizes a temporary stopping of that process either due to a sense of feeling stuck or because of a conscious choice to attend to something before moving on. If a dream has a parking lot in it at any point, consider that as a thematic lens through which to view the entire dream; you are in some sort of holding pattern while an issue is being worked out before you can resume your journey in life.

Parrot: All birds are to be considered messengers of some sort, but the parrot has the distinction of being the one that repeats only what it hears. When this animal appears in a dream, you are being called out on a lack of originality and being called to find your own original voice.

Party: A party is a gathering of celebration. All people in a dream are parts of your own consciousness, and all the people who are at a party can be considered thoughts in your psyche that are coalescing into an idea that it is time to celebrate something or break loose and have some fun. Sometimes a party has the purpose of acknowledging some sort of milestone, and if this is the case in your dream, it is a reminder to consider your accomplishments.

Passport: A passport is first and foremost a form of identification, but it also affords the easy passage to foreign lands. As a symbol in a dream, it represents your ability to extend your consciousness into territory that is far from your comfort zone. Such a dream may also connect with a desire to expand your life’s horizons into something more exciting. To have lost your passport is to feel limited in your ability to accomplish more with your life or problem-solve in a highly creative manner.

Path: A path is a way of moving about some territory that has been traveled before by others such that the way is clear. It is a symbol of your own walk through life that is reflective of making choices that others have made before you. The more wild and remote the path, the more your dream is reflecting territory that is perhaps unique or atypical. A path or any movement along a path in a dream is also a symbol of your private journey through life.

Paycheck: For most people, a paycheck is a symbol of the security of the concept of ongoing prosperity and abundance. The check itself represents the sense that your needs will be met. Anything that is associated with a paycheck in a dream should be focused through this lens. If you cannot find a paycheck, you may feel that your security is threatened somehow. A paycheck that is damaged is also such a threat, but it reflects an incident that happened in the recent past. Finding a paycheck is to be discovering a new source of ongoing security.

Peacock: The male peacock is famous for his beautiful plumage, which has earned him a reputation for being proud. In this way, the symbolic meaning associated with this stunning bird connects with this sensation of being proud of your accomplishments. In a dream, this could be a call to step into such feelings about yourself or a warning that you are being too prideful. Allow the dream context and the feelings within the dream to illuminate which direction to go in.

Peacock Feather: The beautiful plumage of the male peacock contains some of the most startling colors in the natural kingdom and has long been associated with royalty and therefore great abundance. A peacock feather is considered a powerful totem of good fortune and prosperity.

Pearl: A pearl is the calcified product of the oyster that surrounds an irritant with a protective layer of material that humankind has considered precious for thousands of years. At the heart of this beautiful object as a symbol is the grain of sand that must be present in order for this beautiful object to be created. A pearl indicates that some difficult situation has caused a wonderful benefit to be generated.

Pebble: A pebble is the smallest demarcation of rock that we generally refer to. All rocks connect symbolically to the past; they are actually the memory of the earth itself. A pebble can be an irritant or a decoration, depending on the context. If you have a pebble in your shoe in your dream, you are carrying around some old idea or experience that wants to be let go of. If you are using pebbles in a garden or other natural decoration, you are celebrating your past experiences in a healthy and useful way.

Pen: Any writing implement relates to the act of self-expression. A pen is an almost outdated object that harkens back to a slower form of communication from an earlier time. It makes an indelible mark and so relates to the expression of thoughts that you cannot take back.

Pencil: This is a dream about communication that is changeable or impermanent. A pencil symbolically connects with communication issues. The fact that they are erasable adds an element of impermanence to the meaning and therefore a lack of commitment. By varying the pressure applied with a pencil, you can create different shades of gray, which implies a level of subtlety and textural meaning to the communication represented by this symbol in a dream. If you are using a pencil so that errors can be fixed, you may be dreaming about a desire to undo something not aligned with your original intention. Look to areas in your life where you are struggling to be clear and accurate. Also consider your integrity with regard to recent communication. With a pencil, you can erase a statement you wish you hadn’t made.

Penis: The penis is the ultimate symbol of the power of the masculine principle of doing and action. This can have sexual connotations as well as an expression of primal productivity. A woman dreaming of having a penis is connecting deeply to her inner masculine on an archetypal level. The same is true for a man, but without the archetypal meaning.

Pentagram: The pentagram is a widely misunderstood symbol; it has its roots in Christianity but is often used in the media in an inverted shape to refer to elements of the evil side of the occult. Its pure meaning connects to the five senses and the experience of the human body. In early Christianity it connects to the five wounds suffered by Christ. In the Tarot, the pentagram connects with money and prosperity. Any of these meanings might be expressed by a dream that features this geometrical image.

Performing on Stage: Life can often feel like a performance. In this way, dreaming of this image indicates that your unconscious is expressing a sense of your current life as being under public scrutiny. This is a common recurring dream, signifying the dreamer’s sense of feeling exposed or a fear of performing up to standards. The subtlety here is in whether you are on stage because of heightened vulnerability or because you are hiding your true feelings by “acting” your way through an experience. By considering the timing of the dream with regard to current situations in your life, you can discover your true sense of preparedness for what is being thrown at you at the time of the dream. By examining this thoroughly, you can assess whether this dream means you are feeling incompetent to face a challenge in life or if you are feeling prepared to perform at your peak capability. A highly stylized performance could indicate inauthenticity in some area. Conversely, it could connect to a powerful sense of creative originality. Forgetting your lines may represent your discomfort in some role or false persona you are putting on for the approval of others. Life is often like a performance. How you feel about this dream reveals how you feel about how well you are performing at this moment in time.