Why You Dream & What Yours Mean, Per Astrology
What you dream about while you're counting sheep.
Unsplash Dreams are like little windows into a person’s soul.
Even when your dreams make absolutely no sense, there’s still a small thread of truth woven into each one of your dreams.
People who are able to decipher what goes through our minds while we sleep are gifted because they are able to see the truth in someone’s dream that other people may not be able to.
Dreams may be weird or confusing or vague, but they can also be important in helping us wrap our heads around difficult situations, mistakes, and questions we can’t answer when we’re awake.
Each zodiac sign dreams of something different when they’re asleep. Just like your dreams can say a lot about who you are and what you’re thinking about, your zodiac sign can say a lot about why you dream about the things you do.
Dreams are especially poignant and important when you’re going through something big in your life. Think about the last time you were faced with something extra stressful or serious in life – like the death of a loved one or a big fight with your BFF.
The dreams you have during these times can be very enlightening, even if they only ever feel confusing or ordinary.
You might be dreaming of when you were younger and having fun with your friend, or the last time you got to spend time with someone you’ve recently lost.
Just because there are also weird monsters in your dreams doesn’t mean there isn’t also a deeper meaning. Our most vivid dreams (and usually the ones we remember the most) are the ones that happen during our REM sleep, otherwise known as Rapid Eye Movement sleep.
The reason we see images can be explained by a lot of studies and reasoning, but most people tend to think that our dreams are our way of living out fantasies and desires that we might not get a chance to do in real life.
We also have the ability to learn in our dreams, and external stimuli (like an alarm clock) can also make appearances in our dreams.
If you ask me, dreams should be deciphered the way you might learn more about your zodiac sign.
You never know what you may find out about yourself when you learn more about your dreams!
Here is what you envision when you sleep, according to your zodiac sign.
ARIES (March 21 - April 19)
Your dream life is pretty similar to your real life, Aries – maybe just a little bit more adventurous. In your dreams, you’re often expanding on something that happened in real life.
For example, you might be reworking or exploring a different outcome to an argument or discussion you had with someone earlier that day that you’re still thinking about.
When you’re not replaying real-life situations, you’re dreaming about doing something reckless – like skydiving without a parachute – or exploring a place you’re interested in traveling to one day. You have a very big imagination, and your dream-life is a way for you to try new things, in a way.
TAURUS (April 20 - May 20)
It’s hard for you to totally let loose when you’re dreaming, Taurus, because you’re still very much you when you’re asleep. When you sleep, you dream about things like hesitating to buy a giraffe from the zoo, even though it’s priced very low. You can’t even splurge in la la land! I guess that’s what you get when you’re just way too practical with your money IRL.
You also dream about spending quality time with someone you care deeply about. You might not always show it, but you have a very emotional side. And when you’re missing someone a lot, your thoughts carry over into your dreams. You might dream about your S.O., a best friend, or even someone who isn’t in your life anymore.
GEMINI (May 21 - June 20)
Much like your thoughts in waking life, Gemini, your dreams tend to be chaotic and all over the place, too. Since communication and technology are very important to you, you might have nightmares about not being able to reach someone or not having the words for something important you want to say.
You may also dream about your new crush or an upcoming trip you’re looking forward to. Maybe even inviting your new crush on your trip! Sometimes you remember your dreams, sometimes you don’t, but they all tend to be over-the-top variations of things that happen in your day-to-day life.
CANCER (June 21 - July 22)
As a water sign, Cancer, you are known for being very emotional and intuitive. These traits bleed into your dream-life and tend to take center stage whenever you are asleep. The thing you tend to dream the most about is helping a friend or family member through a hard time. Maybe this is something you’ve been trying to work out IRL, not just a made-up dream.
You might also deal with some emotional nightmares that have you waking up with a racing heart or tears in your eyes. While it can be hard to wrap your head around these kinds of dreams, they are often trying to tell us something, so don’t completely ignore them. And since you love family and quality time, you might even dream about a future life with a celebrity crush, like making waffles with Robert Downey Jr.
LEO (July 23 - August 22)
Everything you do, Leo, you do with intention. That means that you don’t often leave your professional life at the office or your personal life in the waking world. Your dreams are usually you playing out an important meeting or conversation. Sometimes, from your own POV, sometimes from the other person’s POV.
There are also times when your dreams are completely out of the ordinary and have nothing to do with what you’ve got going on in the real world. For example, a historical dream about living in luxury – like sipping champagne in a Victorian-era palace or munching on grapes like Cleopatra.
VIRGO (August 23 - September 22)
Virgo, your dreams seem to center around the same things in your waking life. Usually, they include helping someone out in some way, whether that's like sharing advice for a problem or like helping a friend move to a new apartment. Needless to say, your helpful nature is prevalent in the real world and the dream world.
Other times, you may have nightmares about chaos and mess, or recurring dreams about perfection and trying to better yourself. All of these dreams are really you just trying to better understand who you are, but they can still be crazy and confusing, too.
LIBRA (September 23 - October 22)
When you’re awake, it’s easy to brush difficult conversations, confrontation, and hard decisions under the rug. But when you’re asleep, it’s almost as if everything you’ve been trying to avoid wants to come out and haunt you all at once, Libra. That’s why your dreams are often things you don’t want to deal with, only on a much bigger and more stressful scale.
You might dream about getting married to your disaster Tinder date. You know, the one who talked about his foot blister and how much he wishes he could live with his mom forever the whole date. Yeah, that sounds like a nightmare if I’ve ever heard of one. You might also dream about having to make a decision you’ve been avoiding IRL, except without any enlightening advice you can use when you wake up… *sigh*
SCORPIO (October 23 - November 21)
As much as you might be disappointed in your dreams at times, Scorpio, they can be important in helping you discover an answer to something that’s been on your mind for a while. You might not want to think about how stressful your last dream (or nightmare) was, but you should still keep it in the back of your mind for later.
You often dream about getting a much-needed answer about something going on in real life, like how to handle an argument or whether to cut someone out of your life. You may also have nightmares about finding out a hard truth, which might be hard to wrap your head around now but can be very helpful later on.
SAGITTARIUS (November 22 - December 21)
Sagittarius, your dreams can be very crazy, with a lot of twists and turns that you barely understand. Of course, you know better than anyone that dreams don’t always have clear-cut meanings, so you’re willing to go along for the ride and hope that an epiphany comes to you eventually.
You often have Alice in Wonderland deep-thinking dreams that seem like they don’t make any sense but do once you give them some more thought. As a philosopher and learner, your mind is always circling around interesting questions and weird experiences. When you’re not going down a rabbit hole, you like reliving vacations and get-togethers with your BFFs in your dreams. You know, something light and fun.
CAPRICORN (December 22 - January 19)
One of the toughest things about being a workaholic, Capricorn, is that you don’t usually have a lot of time to unwind and focus on other things before you need to get some sleep. So, when it comes to your dreams, they often focus on things you’ve been focusing on at work.
You might be going over past experiences or mistakes in your dreams, trying to see how you would handle things differently if you knew then what you know now. You may also have nightmares about having too much to handle or experiencing burnout, which might be your brain telling you to take it easy every so often. Hey, I’d listen if I were you.
AQUARIUS (January 20 - February 18)
Aquarius, your dreams either don’t make any sense whatsoever or they turn out to be very eye-opening. I don’t know what you eat before bed, but it is doing some crazy things to your dreams. Luckily for you, you are the zodiac sign most likely to be able to handle some of the craziest dreams since you are always thinking out of the box.
Sometimes, you have freaky, nonsensical dreams with no meaning. You know, like running through an abandoned mall that’s filled with Jello while the B-52s chase you… Other times, you have emotional dreams where you’re able to process feelings that might be foreign or uncomfortable to you in real life. Either way, there’s much to think about when you wake up.
PISCES (February 19 - March 20)
Pisces, when you get all cozy in bed and drift off to sleep, you like to dream about your dream life – AKA the life you dream about having one day. Your future is filled with so many possibilities that dreaming about all the things you can do and all the places you can live is your way of exploring what’s to come.
When you’re not dreaming about your future, you often dream about being able to articulate how you feel or working through a problem. You are very emotional, but you’re not always sure how to vocalize your thoughts or feelings in a way that other people understand. Being able to practice in your dreams sets you up for success IRL.
Emily Ratay is a full-time writer living in Pittsburgh. She's passionate about the environment and feminism, and knows that anything is possible in the right pair of shoes. She plans on writing a non-fiction book in the future.