Symbol Watcher

Over the weekend, I had a short, but impactful dream which made me look into the symbolism of the number “8.”

It is early morning. I am looking out onto the small wooden deck that’s in the backyard of my house in conscious life. On the deck stands a woman. I can tell she just awoke from a deep sleep. She is a hard, 50-plus years old. She looks like life has been difficult and has worn her down. In juxtaposition to her tired and aging body she is wearing a new, bright red nightshirt. It strikes me as something a much younger person would wear to bed and in fact it looks much like a nightshirt I had in college. On the bottom left of the nightshirt, in very large white print, is the number 8.

I know the dream has many images open for analysis and interpretation, but for the sake of not running on too long, I’ll focus on what was the most affect-laden image for me: the number 8.

This woman is at least a decade older than I am.  I interpret her age and physical fatigue  as my unconscious pointing out to me how  weary I have felt facing some of the difficulties and dilemmas in my life in recent years.  This woman looks life she’s had the youthful life energy drained right out of her.

When I researched the symbolism behind the number 8, its appearance in my dream began to make sense. Eight follows the number 7 — completion, the end of a cycle (i.e., biblical creation, days of the week). So it makes sense that 8 stands for beginning, renewal, rebirth.

This woman is awake after a long, sleep (inertia, lack of movement — depression). This woman is awake because I recently opened my eyes to some situations and relationships in my life that I can no longer ignore. This will certainly mean a complete rebuilding of entire areas of my life. I must leave the old behind and create my world brand new. This is the meaning of the 8 in my dream.

Other meanings I found include: Eight sides make up the octagon, which is said to be the form that mediates between the square and the circle and therefore stands for both stability (the square) and totality (the circle). The Buddha’s path is eight fold (often symbolized by the 8-petaled lotus). Eight is also the number of the Greek Messenger God Hermes.

Posted on June 25th, 2008 under Dreams, Jungian Psychology • Tags: number 8 symbolism. •  Print This Post •  Email This Post • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback