Spice / Condiment / Herb Dream Interpretation: Insights from 1 Unique Sources

To dream of spices or herbs suggests you need more variety in your life. You need to look at a situation or relationship from a different perspective. To dream of growing herbs suggests self-advancement through hard work but the dream may also refer to your health. Many herbs have symbolic meanings that go back centuries and, as a result, most individual herbs have specific symbolic meaning in dream lore (See box on page270).

For example, the ancient Romans offered wreaths of bay leaves as a symbol of triumph and peace, and they also used to strew rose petals, a symbol of both love and victory, on the paths of wedding parties and victors of war. In Britain, rosemary was called ‘Rose of Mary’ in memory of the Virgin Mary, and in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Ophelia says, ‘There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance, pray you love, remember.’ In accordance with this association of rosemary with remembrance, the herb was once placed on the graves of loved ones. To see sage in your dream constitutes rejuvenating elements in your life, but it could also signal the need to be ‘sage’, or wise, when taking a decision that is preoccupying your waking mind. Majoram is thought to absolve and purify, rue reflects the bitterness of loss, whilst thyme is seen to represent ‘love forsaken’.

If garlic features in your dream, this refers to your personal defenses against negative aspects or forces in your life. The dream may, in addition, have referred to garlic’s medicinal properties and the need to take better care of your health in waking life.

To dream that you are eating gravy suggests that something in your life will happen more easily than you expected. Alternatively, it may suggest health problems and business disappointments. To dream of vinegar indicates worrisome and negative matters in real life; it may indicate that are the object of jealousy.

If ketchup features in your dream, this suggests that you need to spice something up in waking life. To see mustard in your dream signifies a desire to improve your prospects in life. On the other hand, it could denote some hasty action for which you are suffering and now bitterly regret. Or are you hoping to ‘cut the mustard’ and satisfy your own expectations in a forthcoming challenge in real life? Mustard seeds will most often indicate a new idea and your desire to plant, tend and realize its harvest.