In my dream I am walking with my family in a suburban neighbourhood - lots of cul- de- sacs and hills. We see a SWAT team ushering people into a house and they motion for us to follow quickly. As we do, I’m looking around for what the threat is. On my left I see a pride of lions sitting (some standing) under an overpass. They are just looking at us but as we start to run, a couple of them run towards us. We make it into the house just in time- I close the door behind me but the SWAT team and other people are diving into stalls and closets to hide. I need to find a spot.
Suburbia Symbol
Traditionally, Suburbia symbolizes safety, belonging and family patterns. Cul-de-sacs suggest dead ends while hills symbolize effort or emotional ups and downs.
Family Symbol
In dreams family often represents roots but also your support system. Different family members can reflect different aspects of yourself or attachments based on your personal history. Walking with and confronting a situation with your family suggests a sense of family identity, roles and also responsibility. Like in the case of danger, it’s making sure everyone gets to safety.
SWAT Team
A SWAT team symbolizes both authority and a crisis response to danger. It can be both outside authority telling you how to react as well as the need for an emergency intervention. It’s interesting that in my dream the SWAT team also hides once they are inside so I can’t trust them to handle the situation.
Pride of Lions
Lions symbolize powerful energies like passion, protection, and primal male/female archetypes. A “pride” represents a family or collective energy. In my dream they are underneath an overpass which is a contained structure. This suggests that underneath the controlled suburban world there is actually something powerful and dangerous. The lions at first are benign, watching and observing, but then chase as we start to run. We can’t avoid this scary situation.
House Symbol
The symbol of the house figures frequently in my dreams. Traditionally, the house represents the self, psyche and inner world. Entering a house for protection can mean retreating from the outside to inner world. But within this house we still were not safe, we all had to find separate hiding places in stalls and closets. This suggests fragmenting or compartmenting different aspects of myself to feel truly safe.
Dream Interpretation
I think this is a form of stress dream for me. Because I grew up in the suburbs and I’m with my family it suggests navigating away from that and more into my self. The image of the lions represents a primal danger (whatever that may be metaphorically for me right now) that my external SWAT team (ways of coping and handling the situation) is warning me of. But it seems like the safety from this threat can only be found within myself. This is definitely a dream I will have to think on further.
