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The Occultist’s Dream Dictionary: A · B · C · D · E · F · G · H · I · J · K · L · M · N · O · P · Q · R · S · T · U · V · W · X · Y · Z

Letter I of The Occultist’s Dream Dictionary. This is a dream dictionary for people who live with spirits: the demons, gods and dead who visit in sleep, the dreams that can mean something is wrong, the big dreams of love, money and life read with a witch’s eye, and the magical symbols that turn up when you are doing the work. A dream is a conversation with the unseen, not a verdict, so take these as starting points and weigh each one against what is happening in your life right now.

Spirits that come in dreams: I

Ipos

People call on Ipos for nerve and quick wit: before a job interview, a hard conversation, a pitch or a court date, and for a glimpse of how a situation is likely to play out. He tends to show up in a practitioner’s life as sudden boldness and the right line at the right moment. (History and lore: his page.)

How they tend to appear: Practitioners often report a confident, laughing man in a bright room, a quick-talking stranger at a party, or a lion’s face glimpsed on a poster, a T-shirt or a screen. The classical form, an angel with a lion’s head, goose feet and a hare’s tail, shows up as odd stitched-together animals. The surest sign comes after: a burst of confidence on waking that you cannot quite account for.

What the dream may mean:

• You say something clever and brave: if this comes before an interview, a court date or a confrontation, it is his help arriving. Write the line down, because the same words often come back to you when you need them.
• He shows you a strange, specific scene: after you asked him what is coming, a scene with odd exact details (a red door, a particular dog, a name on a badge) is his answer. Watch for those details in waking life.
• The lion-headed figure laughs at you: a lesson that you are taking yourself too seriously, and that boldness needs a lighter touch than you are using.
• A patchwork animal follows you around: during first contact, a lion, goose and hare stitched together is often how he introduces himself before he shows a face.
• You freeze and cannot speak: if you had been asking him for courage, this can show you exactly where your nerve fails, so you can ask for help with that moment.
• You wake bold for no reason: even with no memory of the dream, a sudden surge of confidence after petitioning him often means he came.

Support, message or attack?

• Likely support or a message: you wake lighter and sharper, there was humor in the dream, the figure had a lion’s face or animal mismatches, and what he said fits the question you asked.
• Likely a test: he puts you in a room where you must speak up and waits to see if you will. The pressure is real, but there is no cruelty in it.
• Possibly an attack or a mimic: a lion that mauls you, a future vision that only terrifies and gives you nothing to act on, boldness that tips into rage on waking, or a figure that flatters you and asks for more and more offerings. None of that fits him.

If you work with them: Write the dream down, especially any lines of dialogue. Thank him with a gold or yellow candle and something playful, such as a joke written on paper or a small bright trinket. If what he showed you of the future was unclear, ask him to repeat it in a single image.

When it may not be them: If the dream came without any petition, after a frightening event, and left you anxious about the future, it is more likely worry, or a spirit feeding on it, using a name you know.

Icosiel

Icosiel is worked with today for the home: guarding it, settling tension between the people living in it, and smoothing moves, leases and house sales. Practitioners who keep a household altar to him often describe a calmer house rather than anything dramatic. (History and lore: his page.)

How they tend to appear: Dreams of him are almost always set indoors, since the old text says his spirits delight in houses: your own rooms freshly lit, an apartment hallway with quiet attendants passing through, doors opening on their own without fear, a doorbell or an intercom buzzing with no one there. Expect a calm, orderly presence.

What the dream may mean:

• Quiet figures put your house in order: after a home blessing or protection working, this can mean the house is being taken under guard.
• You find a warm room you did not know you had: an invitation to closer work, and a hint that the house has more room for your practice than you are using.
• His attendants argue in the hallways: a warning that the household itself has tension, between people or between the people and something already living there.
• A door opens by itself and you feel calm: a way being opened, often around a home matter such as a move, a lease or a sale.
• You are a guest in a beautiful house that is not yours: if you have been working for a new home, this can be a preview of what is coming.

Support, message or attack?

• Likely support or a message: the house feels brighter, the attendants are orderly and courteous, and you wake rested.
• Likely a test: you are asked to clean or tidy a room before you may go further, which usually mirrors a real mess you have been avoiding.
• Possibly an attack or a mimic: locked doors, figures that stare and feel hungry, a room you dread, or waking at the same hour every night. Those fit a haunting or an attachment far better than a good-natured prince.

If you work with them: Record which rooms appeared. Clean the house, light a candle in the room he showed you, and leave a small offering of bread or incense there. Ask him to make the house peaceful.

Inanna (Ishtar)

Inanna, called Ishtar by the Akkadians, is worked with today for love, sexual confidence, glamour, winning a fight, and getting through a life that has fallen apart. People going through divorce, burnout or a public fall often find their way to her.

How they tend to appear: A commanding woman in lapis blue or gold, sometimes dressed like a performer or a CEO, with lions or big cats nearby, the eight-pointed star, and Venus bright in the evening sky. Practitioners also report a nightclub or stage, a series of doors or security checkpoints, and the strange experience of taking off clothes and jewelry one piece at a time, which echoes her descent through seven gates.

What the dream may mean:

• You are stripped at a series of gates: you are in your own descent, losing roles, relationships or illusions one at a time. The myth says you come back up changed.
• A lion lies at your feet: during love or glamour work, her favor. A lion that walks beside you in a crowd points to power and visibility at work.
• The evening star rises: a new phase starting, often in love or in how others see you.
• She dresses you in jewels and lapis: your power and attraction being given back after a loss, such as a breakup or a period of feeling invisible.
• You stand with her in battle: if you are in a fight, legal or personal, this can mean she backs you, but expect to fight yourself.
• You hang on a hook in the dark: the low point of the descent. It feels awful, but in her story this is the moment before rescue.

Support, message or attack?

• Likely support or a message: lions, stars, lapis blue, and a sense of your own power or desirability on waking.
• Likely a test: being stripped or brought low while still feeling she is near. The loss is real, and so is the return.
• Possibly an attack or a mimic: stripped and left with no return, no star and no power, mocked by people you know, especially after a falling-out with someone who could send a humiliation working.

If you work with them: Offer beer, dates, honey cakes, lapis or a candle lit at dusk when Venus is up. Ask her to show you what you still have to let go.

Isis

Isis is worked with today for magic itself, especially spoken magic, and for healing, protecting children, conception, and rebuilding after loss. Many practitioners come to her when something they love has been broken and they want to put it back together.

How they tend to appear: A woman with outstretched winged arms, a nurse or midwife figure, a mother you do not know who seems to know you, or simply great wings folding around you. Settings include a river at dusk, a hospital corridor that feels oddly safe, and a quiet room heavy with myrrh. The throne-shaped headdress and the knot amulet called the tyet sometimes appear as jewelry.

What the dream may mean:

• Great wings fold around you: protection, plainly, often during illness or when someone is working against you.
• You gather the pieces of something broken: she is helping you put back what was lost, the way she put Osiris back together. Notice what the pieces were.
• A name is whispered in your ear: a lesson in her particular power, which was always about words. She got her magic by learning Ra’s secret name. Write the name down even if it makes no sense yet.
• She hands you a child or holds yours: protection of children, or for those trying to conceive, a sign she has heard the petition.
• You sit on a throne or wear her throne crown: a call to take your rightful place in a family, a business or your craft.
• You stand by a river with myrrh in the air: healing being offered. People recovering from illness often report this calm river scene.

Support, message or attack?

• Likely support or a message: warmth, wings, a mother figure, a sense of being held, and the smell of myrrh or flowers.
• Likely a test: she asks you to say a word of power aloud, or to find a missing piece, before she helps.
• Possibly an attack or a mimic: a winged woman who smothers rather than shelters, who takes your child, or who leaves you cold and frightened. That is not her nature.

If you work with them: Offer milk, bread, myrrh, flowers or a written prayer read aloud. Ask her to teach you the name you need.

Iblis

Some left-hand path practitioners honor Iblis, the one who refused to bow before Adam in Islamic tradition, as a figure of refusal, self-sovereignty and hidden knowledge, close in spirit to Lucifer. People turn to him when they are breaking free of a controlling family, faith or partner and want the strength to stand alone.

How they tend to appear: Smokeless fire, heat on the skin, a proud and beautiful figure standing apart from a bowing crowd. Modern reports include a man in a dark suit who will not sit when everyone else sits, a mosque, church or meeting hall you walk out of, or a desert highway under stars. You are more likely to be challenged than comforted.

What the dream may mean:

• You refuse to kneel while a figure of fire watches: he is showing you where you hand your power to others, such as a controlling partner, a family or an employer.
• A fiery figure stands shoulder to shoulder with you: acceptance into his current, especially after first contact.
• He asks you a hard question: a lesson he means you to work through yourself. He rarely gives the answer.
• You stand alone in a desert under stars: a time of chosen solitude, often before a big decision.
• You are thrown out of a gathering: exile from a group that no longer fits you. It stings, and it frees you.
• You argue with a religious figure from your childhood: common for people leaving a strict upbringing. He is helping you separate your own will from the voice you grew up with.

Support, message or attack?

• Likely support or a message: you wake with a sharp sense of your own will, warmth on the skin, and no shame.
• Likely a test: he puts something in front of you to bow to, such as money, approval or a lover, and watches what you do.
• Possibly an attack or a mimic: a fiery figure who makes you feel worthless and crawling, or who demands that you bow to him. That is the opposite of his story, and more often a parasite using a feared name, or your own guilt dressed as a devil.

If you work with them: Record the dream, especially what you refused or were asked. Honor him with a candle lit while you state your own will aloud, with frankincense, and with acts of self-reliance. Those are the offering he values most.

Itzpapalotl

Itzpapalotl, the Obsidian Butterfly of the Aztecs, is worked with today for fierce protection, cutting cords and toxic people out of your life, warrior strength, and rebirth after a hard ending.

How they tend to appear: A skeletal woman with butterfly wings edged in black glass, sometimes with jaguar claws. Practitioners report butterflies or moths with knife-edged wings at a window, black glass, broken phone screens, a dark sky during an eclipse, and the smell of copal smoke. She was counted among the star demons feared at eclipses, so eclipse imagery matters in her dreams.

What the dream may mean:

• An obsidian butterfly lands on you without cutting: protection with an edge, a guardian who will strike on your behalf.
• Black glass cuts you and you feel no fear: a lesson about cutting something out of your life before it cuts you.
• The sky goes dark in an eclipse and she is in it: a time of upheaval to prepare for. Look at the calendar for the next eclipse.
• A skeletal woman with wings walks ahead of you: she is leading you out of an ending into a rebirth, often after a loss.
• Jaguar claws hold you down gently: she is telling you to stop and fight from where you stand rather than run.

Support, message or attack?

• Likely support or a message: glittering black glass, copal smoke, a fierce but steady feeling on waking, and something in your life that needs cutting.
• Likely a test: she hands you a blade and waits. The question is what you are willing to cut.
• Possibly an attack or a mimic: swarms of butterflies that cut you over and over with no purpose, waking with scratches, or crawling sensations. Those sit closer to insect-type attack dreams.

If you work with them: Offer obsidian, flowers, cacao or copal smoke. Write down where on your body the butterfly landed, since that is usually the place she is guarding or working on.

Love, money and life dreams: I

Infidelity

You walk in on your partner with someone else, or find yourself kissing a coworker and wake guilty. It usually reflects insecurity, guilt, or a need that is not being met, rather than a real affair. One useful question: who in the dream had the power? People who feel small in a relationship tend to dream of being cheated on; people who feel trapped tend to dream of doing the cheating.

The magical reading:

• During a love working: cheating dreams can be your fear rising as the work stirs things up. They are common in the first weeks of a reunion or commitment working.
• If you work with a spirit: a love spirit such as Asmodeus or Sitri showing you a partner’s betrayal may be warning you before you find out the hard way.
• When it may be interference: the same rival appears again and again, your partner turns cold for no clear reason, and fights break out over nothing. Look for a separation or breakup working sent by someone who wants one of you.

Inheritance

You inherit a house, money, a ring or a box of old papers. These dreams often mean receiving gifts, talents or burdens from your family line, or coming into your own power.

The magical reading:

• From a dead relative: your ancestors may be passing on a gift, sometimes a talent for the craft that skipped a generation. A ring tends to mean a bond or vow passed down, a book knowledge, a house the whole line and everything that comes with it.
• During a money working: inheriting cash or property can show the working moving toward you through family or old connections.
• When it may be interference: you inherit something that frightens you, such as a locked trunk or a house where something waits. Consider a generational curse, or a family spirit that wants to be acknowledged.

Injury

A cut that will not stop bleeding, a bone that snaps, a burn. Injury dreams often carry emotional hurt, and the body part is rarely random: people who cannot speak up dream of injured throats, people who cannot move forward dream of broken legs.

The magical reading:

• During healing work: an injury that heals quickly in the dream can mean the working is taking hold.
• If you work with a spirit: a spirit who binds or tends a wound is showing you where you need care. A spirit who points at an old scar is pointing to an old hurt still running your choices.
• When it may be interference: injuries in the same place in repeated dreams, especially ones that leave marks or pain on waking. Note where the wound was. A heart, a womb or a hand can show what the attacker wants to harm.

Interview

You sit before a panel for a job you want, or for one you do not remember applying for, and cannot answer the questions. It is a classic anxiety dream about being judged and about wanting something new.

The magical reading:

• During a career working: a smooth, confident interview, especially if the panel smiles, is an encouraging sign.
• If you work with a spirit: an interviewer who feels like a spirit may be testing you before helping. Notice what they asked, because it is usually the question you are avoiding.
• When it may be interference: repeated interviews that always go wrong, together with real rejections that make no sense, can point to crossed conditions around work.

In-laws

Dreams about in-laws often show tension around boundaries, approval and belonging. They visit uninvited, criticize your cooking, or take your partner’s side.

The magical reading:

• During a marriage or reconciliation working: an in-law who welcomes you with food or a gift can be a sign the family will accept you.
• When it may be interference: an in-law who appears hostile again and again, especially after a fight. Family ill will often carries more weight than a stranger’s spell, because it comes through blood and shared tables.

Invitation

You receive an invitation to a wedding, a party, a dinner, or a strange house. These dreams usually reflect wanting to be included, or a new opportunity.

The magical reading:

• If you work with a spirit: an invitation from a stranger can be a spirit asking to work together. An invitation to a feast where the guests are dead can be ancestor contact, or a call to the Sabbat.
• During a social or love working: an invitation to a party or wedding can show doors opening.
• When it may be interference: invitations you feel compelled to accept against your will, especially ones that ask you to come alone or to bring something of yours.

Signs of spiritual attack: I

Insects

Insects crawl over your skin, swarm in your bed, come out of the walls, or pour out of your mouth. The dream feels dirty and itchy, and you may wake scratching.

What it can point to: Insects are among the commonest pictures of a curse or of parasitic spirits. Flies tend to point to rot, the dead, or something decaying in your life. Ants or beetles moving under the skin point to an attachment. A swarm that comes from one direction, or from one person’s house, points to ill will sent by a living person. Spiders and webs often point to someone weaving a working around you.

Ordinary dream or attack? Look for the dreams repeating, itching or small marks on waking, real insects turning up in unusual numbers, or the dreams starting after a specific event such as a breakup, a new neighbor, or a gift.

What to do: Wash your bedding with salt and burn a protective incense in the bedroom before sleep. If the crawling goes on, our Are You Under Spiritual Attack? check names what has been sent.

Intruder in the bedroom

A stranger stands in your bedroom, at the door or beside the bed, and watches you. Sometimes they speak, sometimes they only stare. You often feel you are awake.

What it can point to: A stranger who appears only in one house, and that others in the house see too, points to a haunting. A stranger who follows you from place to place points to an attachment or a sent spirit. A stranger who wants sex points to an incubus or succubus.

Ordinary dream or attack? Look for repeat dreams, other people seeing the same figure, pets reacting at night, waking at the same hour, or a presence that stays after waking.

What to do: Lay salt across the threshold and command the intruder to leave by your full name and authority. If it keeps returning, the Are You Under Spiritual Attack? check will tell you who has been standing there.

Incubus or succubus visits

Repeated sexual dreams with a visitor, often faceless or changing face, sometimes pleasurable and sometimes not. You may feel weight or touch on the bed.

What it can point to: Incubi and succubi feed on sexual energy; the names come from Latin for “one who lies upon” and “one who lies beneath.” The same Latin root gives us incubation, the old practice of sleeping in a temple to receive a god’s dream, which says a lot about how close the welcome visitor and the unwelcome one have always been. A spirit spouse is different: it can come from a pact made knowingly or unknowingly, or down a family line. The giveaway is jealousy. A spirit spouse resents your real partners and tends to sabotage them.

Ordinary dream or attack? Look for exhaustion, marks on waking, loss of desire for real partners, or relationships failing for no clear reason.

What to do: Sleep with iron and salt nearby and refuse the visitor aloud. If it continues, our Are You Under Spiritual Attack? check names the visitor and where it came from.

Magical dream symbols: I

Ice. If you have a freezer jar running, ice forming around that person in a dream is the spell holding. Ice closing around you is the uncomfortable mirror of it: you are being frozen out, or someone has put you on ice.

Incense. Smelling incense in a dream, especially the blend you burn for one particular spirit, usually means that spirit is near. Watch the smoke, too. Incense that will not light, or smoke that sinks to the ground instead of rising, suggests the offering was not accepted.

Iron. Iron has kept spirits and the fae out for as long as anyone remembers. Holding it in a dream, or seeing iron gates around your house, means you are protected. If it is rusting through, your protections need renewing.

Ink. Signing your name in ink, or in blood that turns to ink as you write, means a pact is being made, and you should remember what the paper said. Spilled ink is a working gone wrong, or your own words being turned against you.

Initiation. Robes, a circle, a teacher you have never met: an initiation in a dream can be a real one, given by a spirit. If it is calm, you are ready for the next step. If it is frightening, you are being tested, and the fear is part of the rite.

Island. Alone on an island and at peace, you probably need solitude for your work. Stranded on one, watching boats go by, you have been cut off from your allies, and it is worth asking how.

Ivy. Ivy holds on. Ivy covering a house is a binding, and only the feeling of the dream will tell you whether it is protective or not. Ivy being torn down is freedom from a hold.

Idol. A statue that turns its head or speaks means the spirit housed in it is awake and listening. A broken idol is the end of a relationship with a spirit, or an altar that has been neglected too long.

When a dream will not leave you alone

If the same figure keeps returning, if the nightmares began after a working, a person or a visit somewhere heavy, or if you wake drained and uneasy, something may be attached to your energy. Our Are You Under Spiritual Attack? check ($25) tells you plainly what is there. If it is your home that feels wrong (footsteps, doors, smells, pets reacting, or others in the house having the same dreams), take Is Your House Under Spiritual Attack? ($30) instead. To have a dream of your own read, try the Dream Oracle, our occult dream interpretation, delivered in minutes and built on this dictionary and our casebook, or see all our dream readings. Interpretation is guidance, not certainty, and like all our work it comes with no guarantees.

The Occultist’s Dream Dictionary: A · B · C · D · E · F · G · H · I · J · K · L · M · N · O · P · Q · R · S · T · U · V · W · X · Y · Z