Dream of Dates
Many times in dreams, dates and numbers are used as a signal to identify something from the dream that will translate to waking life. In dreams, dates may be clues to guide you toward a time or event that is serving as the trigger for the dream.
I often dream of dates but why no dates yet?
Dream of Kissing
Kissing is often associated with youthful love. It is teenagers, and not parents, who kiss until they are weak in the knees on the escalator in the mall. You can be kissing another, watching others kiss, or experience that "I'm about to be kissed" moment.
Kissing another is often wish-fulfillment or sexual acting out. The wish-fulfillment may not be to kiss per se, but to experience the youthful energy of love. Kissing in this sense is the desire for the awakening of passion, not necessarily the passion acted out.
Watching others kiss may be a sign of knowing too much about them personally or participating in their lives at too personal a level. The exception here would be if you are watching your partner kiss another, which is an obvious herald of infidelity or a desire for voyeurism in the relationship.
The "about to be kissed" moment is an interesting one. Often, it occurs as we wake up. This is the dream that may most accurately reflect a desire for actual passion with another. The reason we wake up is the taboo feeling that perhaps, while we want this, it would not be beneficial to actually participate in it.
Is the kissing comforting or threatening to you?
Is it something you sought after, or was it forced upon you? Is your general experience repugnant, romantic, or passionate?
Anyone here want to participate?
Dream of Sex
Dreams of sex and looking for sexual meaning in dreams is something of a pastime for dream interpreters. Often, you don't have to look very far. Sexual content, feelings of love, flirtation, attraction, and nocturnal rendezvous are often very explicit in dreams.
Sexual meaning has long been a first path of inquiry in dream interpretation. This is due, in part, to the significant contributions of Sigmund Freud to the area of dream interpretation. However, interpreting the sexual content of dreams can be difficult. University studies reveal significant differences in how men and women dream about sex. However, when all is said and done, almost everyone is "doing it" in dreamland. How Much? Sex during dreaming is reported as a topic of at least 12% of male dreams and 4% of female dreams. This discrepancy is generally consistent with our waking sex drives, with men doing much more thinking about the topic than women. (It is said that men think about sex far more than 12% of their waking lives, though.) In his book Finding the Meaning in Dreams, G. William Dumhoff reveals some interesting data about the manifestation of sex in dreams:
Gender Men Women
Participating 93% 68%
Watching 7% 32%
This table indicates that women often separate themselves from what is going on in the dream sexually, whereas men see themselves as participants. This can be significant to understanding why it is more common for men-particularly boys-to have orgasms in the dream state than it is for women. It also reveals the conflict that many women feel about the good-girl/bad-girl taboo.
Aside from overt sexual activities in dreams, the question of sexual images and symbols as they occur in dreams is important. Because sexuality is often cloaked in a heavy shroud of secrecy, either through childhood or throughout life, the subconscious is prone to visually represent sex in a variety of ways. Freud, in his theory of the sexually driven personality, contributed much to this line of thought.
Freud did for sexual content in dreams what Henry Ford did for internal combustion. Suddenly everyone, everywhere had dreams of sexual content. Ultimately, this led to Freud's demise in some segments of the intellectual community. Many scholars wonder if Freud was really as pre-occupied with sexual symbolism as he is purported to have been. The following is a partial list of the phallic symbols you may find indexed in a Freudian dream interpretation book:
Aerosol Cans, Antenna, Balloons, Bats, Birds, Boilers, Bottles, Can Openers, Cannons, Cigars, Cars, Chalk, Church Spires, Cords, Cucumbers, Drills, Fishing Poles, Fountains, French Bread, Golf Clubs, Gophers, Guns, Hammers, Hats, Keys, Kites, Knives, Lances, Laser Beams, Moles, Nail Files, Neckties, Needles, Pencils, Pens, Pipes, Pistols, Planes, Plows, Revolvers, Rockets, Ropes, Scalpels, Screwdrivers, Snakes, Spears, Sticks, Swords, Syringes, Tall Buildings, Telescopes, Tractors, Trains, Trees, Tubes, Umbrellas, Water Taps, Woodchucks, Wrenches and Zippers
Not to be left out, women's sexuality was likewise a source of attention and interest for Freud. The following list is far less extensive than the list for male phallic symbols, but almost as diverse:
Bowls, Children, Churches, Closed Rooms, Earth, Fruit, Flowers, Gardens, Houses, Moon, Mounds, Oceans, Ponds, Suitcases, Tunnels, Urns, Vases and Water.
Sexual dreams are not about sex exclusively. Often they are about how we perceive people and how we think others are perceiving us. To construct a framework for interpreting sexual dreams, it is important to identify who is with us in the dream and how we feel about the experiences being had while dreaming.
Certain dreams are simply romantic. Boy and girl meet in the dream state and find themselves enjoying one another. This scenario commonly involves an attractive acquaintance and a generally pleasing environment. There is no violation of taboo, except for a sense that perhaps things are moving a little fast in the nocturnal relationship. Often, the dreamer has simply acted upon a desire for a relationship with a particular person. Freud's theory of wish-fulfillment is a sufficient explanation.
Other dreams begin to press on the boundaries of our taboos. These include dreams with sexual content the dreamer would consider inappropriate in waking, but participates in during the dream. These dreams can be very troubling. One can wake up feeling as though a rape was committed, a fidelity violated, or that innocence has been stripped away. Dreams of this nature may require some more thorough examination.
Identifying the "who" or "what" that has generated discomfort is an important first step. Was it a boss, co-worker, friend? Someone much older or younger than you with whom you have an affectionate, but platonic relationship? Or was it the nature of the encounter-coerced, cheating, public, or whatever-that is the most distinct feature of the dream? Who was forcing whom? Was it a stranger who reminded you of someone you know? Representation and displacement relationships are often components of sexual dreaming.
Some of these dreams indicate our own ambivalence about taboos. There is, after all, something exciting about what is forbidden. In other cases, we are expressing our own frustration with a sex life that is not satisfying. Still other times, others have violated our boundaries and we respond by perceiving them as taking unmerited favors from us.
In all of these cases, the dreams are worth noting and studying. By looking into what you may find abhorrent at first, you will see aspects of your personality and the relationships around you that have gone mostly unnoticed. Perhaps most importantly, you will become more aware of the various facets of your personality in those relationships.
Dream of Rape
Dreams of rape are dreams of violence. As a dreamer, you may find yourself as an aggressor, victim, or spectator to the crime. In dreams of this nature, your role and feelings about the others in the event are crucial to understanding the meaning of the dream. If you have recurring dreams of being the victim of rape, you should try to determine if post-traumatic stress is a factor in your dreams.
Being a victim in a non-recurring rape dream usually indicates a message that you are being personally violated, thwarted, or ruthlessly exploited in waking life. In dreams of this nature, the aggressor is a faceless adversary. This could be explained by the fact that people who get close enough to us in life to exploit us often are significant to us in other, more positive ways. The dream is not meant to have an actual aggressor, but simply serve as a warning that you're being overpowered.
Being the aggressor in a rape usually indicates powerful unresolved or unexpressed anger at someone. As with the victim scenario above, the other party to the rape is often faceless. For example, if you harbor anger towards an opposite gender boss, parent, teacher or co-worker, rape dreams may occur. Finding a source of unresolved anger in waking life can provide great insight into the meaning of this dream. Identifying why you are unable to express your anger in waking life will also help.
A 25-year-old woman reports: Even before I became sexually active, I remember having recurrent dreams of men tied down. I would force myself on them sexually. It was always against their will, and according to my power or desire. I never knew them, and often I did not even notice their faces. It is strange to me that I should have such dreams without even knowing what actual sex was like.
This woman had a deeply troubled relationship with her father. Although there was no incest or sexual misconduct, there was little affection either. The woman reports that her relationship with this parent has been very bitter and troubled. However, she notes that as the relationship improved, the dream lessened in frequency.
Observing a rape is often equally troubling. This is because of the powerlessness you feel in relationship to the victim. Many times, there is an intuitive connection with the victim or the aggressor. In either case, the dreamer may be feeling angry or exploited in waking life. The watching is an attempt to dissociate oneself from the trauma of the event. This often allows better recognition of the relationship between aggressor and victim.
Consequently, whatever psychological protection is gained by indirect participation is lost on the more complete awareness of the other characters.
Dream believe it or not? 
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