Digging, Excavation Dream Interpretation: Insights from 5 Unique Sources

Example: I entered a neglected garden adjoining a house I had formerly lived in. I was astonished that I had never noticed this garden before. I took a spade and hoe and began to work vigorously in order to put things nght, digging like a navvy. But wherever I put my spade I turned up live shells and hand grenades—highly explosive and very dangerous. I was terrified I would be blown to pieces and hurried away’ (from Organism of the Mind, G.R. Meyer, Kegan Paul, 1933).

The dreamer in the example was a man in his 40s who had taken up meditation on the suggestion of a friend. It shows him discovering and uncovering a pan of himself he had not known before. In doing so he meets explo­sive emotions and conflicts he is not used to dealing with. Digging usually depicts delving into hidden or buried areas of ourself. We may uncover feelings from our childhood—cre­ative realisations, features of the unconscious, even dead bod­ies or ancient creatures. Digging can also represent our work on renovating our attitudes, personality structure or habits.

See garden.

See Mines

1- Often when we begin the process of learning about ourselves we need to uncover those parts we have kept hidden, and this is shown in dreams as excavating a hole or digging up an object.

2- On a creative level we may have realisations which arc hard to access and must be dug out.

3- Spiritually we need to have access to the characteristics of the unconscious.

Spiritually we need to have access to the characteristics of the unconscious. It will always take effort to uncover such aspects and this is symbolized by digging. Excavating, perhaps in the form of an archaeological or other professional type of digging, would suggest a more structured approach.

Psychological / emotional perspective: On a creative level we may have realizations that are hard to access and must be dug out. Excavating objects can also imply that there is ‘buried treasure’ which belongs to the past.