TOWas Cinderella right when she sang that “dreams are desires”? According to some currents of thought, absolutely yes. The truth is that the interpretation of dreams is an activity that has questioned the man of every age. In a different way, of course. And with different methods of analysis, depending on the knowledge and beliefs of the time in which they were made.
From the purely “divination” conception of the dream activity up to Freud’s psychological revolution who, instead, began to define dreams as a manifestation of man’s unconscious desires. I’m many theories which are the basis of the interpretation of dreams.
Dreams as omens and revelations
L’oneiromancy it is the art of divination based on the interpretation of dreams. This type of practice belongs above all to the religious and spiritual sphere. It is in this context that the first dream testimonies that have come down to the present day can be contextualized.
In pre-Christian eradreams were for example regarded as gods magical visions. Or as of revelations real. It is no coincidence that interpreters of the divine will such as Joseph or Gideon can already be found in the Old Testament, capable of reading the divine signs also through dreams. A reserved capacity, therefore, only a select few which, depending on the historical context in which we go to fish them, can be prophets but also shamans or witches. Dreams as omens or revelations.
According to the esotericist and alchemist Cagliostro the truthfulness of the dreams was linked to the phase of the moon in which they occurred. In this way, it would be immediately understood if what was dreamed during the night was a lucky or nefarious dream, truthful or to be deciphered.
The Neapolitan grimace in the interpretation of dreams
It does not fall into the psychological field dream interpretation of grimace, considered as “the book of dreams”. It is about the pure correlation of what is dreamed of during the night with some numbers to play on the lotto. Each element contained in the dream, in fact, can be associated with one or more numbers.
This popular custom was originally handed down orally. Only later was it transformed into a real guide. There are several types of local grimaces, linked to different cities. The most famous is that Neapolitan, comprising hundreds of different items. Not just “fear makes 90”, in short. And the list is really long and detailed.
The interpretation of dreams in the Kabbalah
Jewish Kabbalah (Photo by David Silverman / Getty Images)
With the term “Cabala“Means the set of esoteric teachings of rabbinic Judaism. It is not a religious confession in itself, but a mystical interpretation which has, among its objectives, that of defining the nature of the universe and of the human being. These theories were then also applied to the interpretation of dreams. These, for example, are considered as gods experiences that manage to put man in contact with the superhuman.
Among other things, in summary, the Kabbalah tries to predict what will happen. It is no coincidence that it is believed that the roots of the current Neapolitan grimace may lie precisely in the tradition of the Jewish Kabbalah.
Freud’s revolution
Die Traumdeutung is one of the most famous works of Sigmund Freud. The volume (translated: The interpretation of dreams) came out in 1899 and is regarded as the cornerstone of modern psychoanalysis. When it was published, Freud’s thought was not given any real psychic validity and was often associated with a set of rules closer to superstition than to medicine.
But with The interpretation of dreams Freud actually revolutionized modern thinking. According to the father of psychoanalysis, in fact, we must focus on the part of the dream that remains in our mind, once awake, considering it as the “manifest content” its. It is the story we remember dreaming of.
Trying to identify and analyze the rules according to which dreams are formed and reach our conscience, Freud also talked about “Latent content”. It is the part of a dream that is distinguished from the “manifest” one and which, unlike the latter, is devoid of symbolic elements. IS what the dream secretly alludes to.
The interpretation of the “manifest content” of the dream, therefore, allows to arrive at the “latent content” and allows to touch the unconscious: the most hidden part of our thinking. According to Freud, in conclusion, dreams derive from the activity of unconscious desiresnot accessible to the ego. A way to get to know each other better. And to avoid all the removals that make us feel (apparently) calmer.
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