How to Interpret a Dream With an Airplane Crash

Keep pen and paper by the bed to write down your dreams.

Everybody has strange dreams at some point. Dreaming of an airplane crash can be particularly troubling. If this dream is recurring or even just following you around in your mind while you're awake, it could be your mind telling you something is bothering you and you're ignoring it. The obvious answer would be that a dream of an airplane crash means you're afraid of flying, but because different things represent a variety of other things, each unique to the person, the answer might not be that easy.

Instructions

1. Write down everything you remember about the dream. Try to start at the beginning as best you can. The sooner you can get this done the better, as the details about the crash and everything else in the dream will be fresh.

2. Underline or circle everything that stood out as important or vivid to you. Sometimes something as simple as a color you made note of in the dream can have meaning.

3. Make a list of all these important or vivid words.

4. Play the word association game. Have a friend read these words to you out of order. (Feel free to have her call out other, random and unrelated words mixed in.) Clear your mind and give out the first thing that comes to mind with each word. If you're comfortable enough letting your friend read your dream, have her read it and come up with her own list of anything she thought stood out or seemed strange to notice. If you're not comfortable enough doing this, just have her read off your list.

5. Have your friend write down your responses and go back over them, trying to plug them into the situation in your dream. If you start to get an "ah-ha" feeling, like things are starting to make sense to you personally, you're on your way. It's important to figure out what an airplane crash represents to you. It may really mean something more obscure, such as the fear that an upcoming project you're undertaking is going to fail. Maybe all the people on the plane that crashed are the people you're in the project with. Usually, however, it's not that obvious.

References

• The Glaring Facts: Carl Jung: Analytical Psychology
• R.L.W. Clarke: Carl Jung: "Approaching the Unconscious"

Resources

• Meaning of Dreams