Advent Calendar Day 2: Snow
Welcome to the second day of the Dream Well advent calendar! Today I am writing about snow. Even in the southern hemisphere and places that rarely see snow, a white Christmas can still evoke a strong sense of tradition and even nostalgia. What is it that is so evocative about snow?
Snow in dreams can have many different meanings. When we dream of elements such as fire, water, ice and snow they can can often relate to our emotions, literally how we “feel” about things. A dream filled with snow may indicate there is an area of life where we feel cold or emotionally distant about something. Snow covers like a blanket, and it conceals things. Snow in dreams can come at periods when we are emotionally hibernating, but this need not necessarily be a bad thing. Maybe there has been a difficult period and this is the time to retreat inwards to heal. Or maybe you have felt overwhelmed with feelings in the past, and feel it would be easier and safer to just close off your emotions a while. When snow means this in dreams, in future dreams look for signs of thawing and new shoots appearing, as this can indicate the period of retreat is coming to an end, the winter of the soul is becoming warmed by the sunlight of new hope and personal growth, and it is time to re-emerge back into the world.
But snow in dreams can mean many other things. The whiteness and purity of snow can symbolise a period of spiritual cleansing that is profoundly uplifting, especially if there is sunlight, starlight or moonlight shining on it. These kinds of dreams may also indicate a time of deep emotional peace, a relief from grieving, or a sense of psychologically clearing things that have been distracting and superfluous in life.
A snow storm may indicate that we feel confused, that we cannot see the way we need to progress clearly. This may be a good time to stop pressing ahead with a certain venture or goal and just wait things out until the situation becomes clearer. To be buried in snow can be a sign of “feeling snowed under” and perhaps unable to cope with all the demands that we feel are placed on us a particular time. When the environment is hostile, it is wise to seek shelter – and the same is true metaphorically. Find friends, support or “go within” until the outside world is a kinder place. Alternatively, dreaming of skiing across snow may indicate that we are not really addressing our deeper feelings, and just “skating across the surface” of an issue we know needs much deeper attention. If the skiing feeling is liberating though, this may mean coming to terms with some of those deeper issues.
Snow in dreams can also be magical. We know that every snowflake is unique, so to dream of the beauty or individuality of a single snowflake may be a sign of a wonderful appreciation of our own special place in the universe, or an increasing awareness of how uniquely valuable every human being is.
Snow dreams can be soft and gentle, or barren and cold. And just as all snow eventually melts, so too do all feelings change. Snow dreams ask us to consider what is going on inside, what needs to be healed, or strengthened or released, and what we would like to reveal when eventually the sunshine returns to clear the landscape again.