A spiritual threat is one that forces us to reassess our beliefs. Most often it will contain options of action that lead to a degree of inevitability either way. Once on that particular path we have no choice but to continue. In dreams the image of a divided path or road will often occur at this time, or of going up or down. You might also like to consult the entry for path as well as the information on archetypes, anxiety dreams and nightmares in the introduction.
[1]Psychological / emotional perspective: To feel threatened in dreams approaches anxiety and nightmare. Taking us out of our comfort zone whether emotionally or otherwise results in fear and distress, which we can suppress in waking life but often not in dreams.
If we ourselves are threatening someone in dreams we perhaps need to seek out the source of our own negative emotions and what it is we feel so strongly about.
[2]Material aspects: A threat to our security or way of life can translate itself in dreams to an image of a threatening situation or environment.
The shadow – that part of us which contains a great deal of negativity – can manifest in dreams literally as a dark shadow and at that point needs to be confronted either through working with the dream or by careful analysis.
[3]Gives gender-specific: In both men’s and women’s dreams the opposite gender can pose a threat. Thus a man might feel threatened by the image of a vengeful goddess (an aspect of the anima) and a woman by an overbearing ogre (an aspect of the animus).
[4]To dream that you threaten others, suggests that you need to stand up for yourself in your real life.
To dream that you are being threatened, signifies that you have some internal fear of inadequacy which needs to be dealt with - work on your self-esteem.
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