W

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 W 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: W

Woden (Odin)

People work with Woden, the god the Norse called Odin, for rune magic, poetry, seership, battle of every kind, and the hard knowledge that costs something to gain, and he tends to show up for seekers who have started asking questions they cannot let go of. English speakers name him every week without noticing: Wednesday is Woden’s day.

How they tend to appear: An old man in a wide-brimmed hat and a long gray or blue coat, often with one eye covered or missing, at a crossroads, a bus stop or a bar at closing time. Ravens on a wire or a windowsill, two wolves or big gray dogs, a horse with too many legs, a gallows tree, wind howling, the smell of mead or wet wool, and the feeling of being studied by someone far older than you.

What the dream may mean:

• A wanderer asks you a riddle and waits: he traveled in disguise and tested people with questions. This is an invitation to work with him, and the riddle itself is worth taking to your runes.
• Two ravens land near you after you asked a question: his ravens, Huginn and Muninn, Thought and Memory, fly the world and bring him news. An answer is coming; watch the next few days.
• You lose an eye, a ring or a person in the dream: he gave his eye at Mimir’s well for wisdom. This may be the price of the knowledge he is pushing you toward. He does not teach for free.
• You hang from a tree, or see runes carved in wood or skin: he hung nine nights on the world tree to win the runes. This often comes at the start of serious rune study, or during an ordeal that will teach you something you cannot learn another way.
• He hands you a spear, or you fight beside him: a conflict ahead, at work, in court or in family, that he is willing to back. Notice whose side the dream put you on.
• He pours you mead or asks you to speak a poem: he won the mead of poetry, and this is inspiration for writing, speech or song being offered.
• Wolves sit beside you at a table: in the lore he gives his own food to his wolves, Geri and Freki. Eating beside them means you are being taken into his household.
• He rides past with a host in a storm: he leads the Wild Hunt in much of the north. A big change is passing through your life; see the entry below.
• “Is he calling me, and what does he want back?”: the common worry. A first dream is usually an introduction, not a demand. Practitioners often describe a long period of being watched before anything is asked, and his requests tend to be for effort, study and honesty rather than things.

Support, message or attack?

Likely support or a message:

• You wake alert and unsettled in a good way, with a question or a rune in your head.
• The form matches him: hat, coat, one eye, ravens, wolves.
• It follows rune work, a question asked, or an offering.

Likely a test:

• He asks a riddle and the dream ends before you answer.
• He shows you what something will cost and lets you decide.
• He appears in disguise and you only realize who it was on waking. Many read this as a test of whether they treat strangers well.

Possibly an attack or a mimic:

• An old man who flatters you, promises easy power and asks for nothing is not acting like Woden.
• A figure who only frightens you without teaching, or ravens that attack you rather than bring news.
• A one-eyed figure who demands harm to yourself or someone else, or the dreams leave you drained and began after a specific object or place.

If you work with them: Write the dream down and draw a rune for it the same morning. Mead, good bread and spoken poetry are fitting offerings. Keep any promise made to him in a dream; treat it as binding, because he will.

Wepwawet

People work with Wepwawet to open blocked roads, guide them in spirit travel and clear the way before a new venture, and he tends to show up for people stuck at the start of a move, a new job or a new phase.

How they tend to appear: A pale wolf or jackal, or a man with that head, a gray dog walking ahead of you down a street, a guide through tunnels, subways or desert roads, or a gate that opens as a dog approaches it.

What the dream may mean:

• A pale wolf walks ahead and glances back to see if you follow: his name means “opener of the ways.” A road is opening, often after a petition for a new job or a move.
• The wolf stands still at a closed door: the way is not open yet; wait.
• He leads you through a dark underground passage: he led the dead through the roads of the underworld. In ancestor and necromantic work this means you have been given safe passage.
• He walks ahead of you into a fight: he went before the king in war. Backing in a conflict.

Support, message or attack?

• Likely support or a message: the dog leads and you wake knowing which way to go.
• Likely a test: he waits at a fork and makes you choose.
• Possibly an attack or a mimic: a wolf that hunts you rather than leads you is a different dream. Read it as a warning or an attack sign.

If you work with them: Record the path you walked, every turn and gate. Offer bread, beer or water, and keep a lamp lit at his altar the next night. Act on a newly opened road soon.

Wadjet

People work with Wadjet for protection, sovereignty, guarding a home or business, and striking back at those who attack them, and she tends to show up for people who have been pushed around and are ready to stand up.

How they tend to appear: A rearing cobra, green or gold, a woman with a cobra’s head, a burning eye, papyrus marshes. You may feel heat on your forehead and sense something coiled and watching at the head of the bed.

What the dream may mean:

• A cobra rises between you and someone who harmed you: she was the cobra on the pharaoh’s crown who spat fire at his enemies. Your request for protection was accepted.
• A cobra settles on your brow: stop shrinking and take up authority in your own life.
• A cobra turns toward you, hood spread: you have crossed a boundary of hers, such as neglecting a promised offering.
• A burning eye watches over your house: she is tied to the Eye of Ra. Your home is being guarded.

Support, message or attack?

• Likely support or a message: the cobra faces outward and you wake feeling protected.
• Likely a test: she rears at you and waits for you to hold your ground.
• Possibly an attack or a mimic: snakes that bite you, crawl over you in bed, or come with a feeling of filth and rot belong with attack signs, not with Wadjet.

If you work with them: Write the dream down, then renew your protection around the home. Offer milk, incense and green stones, and speak your thanks plainly.

The Watchers

People work with the Watchers for forbidden knowledge and craft skill, the oldest left-hand-path idea of learning without permission, and they tend to show up for people who make things with their hands or study what they were told not to.

How they tend to appear: Very tall figures, often without clear faces, standing on a mountain, a rooftop or around the edges of a room, eyes that do not blink, light reflecting off metal, and dreams set on high places at night. Many describe a deep humming or ringing.

What the dream may mean:

• You are shown how to make something: forge, sew, mix or paint. In the Book of Enoch they taught metalwork, adornment, roots and enchantment, and this is their teaching; Azazel is the one most often met this way.
• Tall figures stand silently around you: they are waiting to see if you will begin study with them.
• You are shown the stars or the moon’s signs: astrology and lunar work are being offered.
• You are cast down from a height, or chained: this echoes their own fall, and is a warning to take care with what you learn and how you use it.

Support, message or attack?

• Likely support or a message: you wake with a technique you can practice.
• Likely a test: you are shown something powerful and not told how to use it.
• Possibly an attack or a mimic: tall silent figures that leave you paralyzed and drained night after night fit the shadow-figure pattern of attack more than a teaching visit.

If you work with them: Record whatever was shown, then practice it. Fitting offerings include worked metal, cosmetics or a piece of your own craft.

The Wild Hunt

People approach the Wild Hunt for work with the dead, for storm and wind magic, for the turning of the year and for sweeping away what is stagnant, and it tends to show up around midwinter and in seasons of sudden change.

How they tend to appear: Horses and hounds in the sky, horns blowing, a rush of riders with lanterns or bare skulls, motorbikes roaring down an empty highway at night, a wind that rattles windows, and the sense of being caught in the open as they pass. Its leader varies by region: Woden, Gwyn ap Nudd, Frau Holle, Perchta or Herne.

What the dream may mean:

• You watch it pass from somewhere safe: a big change is sweeping through your life without taking you with it.
• You are invited to ride: initiation into deeper work with the dead or with the leader of the Hunt.
• You are chased by it: you are standing in the way of a change that will come anyway.
• Someone you know rides with it: folk belief said the Hunt carried off the dead. For someone recently gone, it can mean they are moving on.

Support, message or attack?

• Likely support or a message: awe more than fear, and you wake exhilarated.
• Likely a test: the invitation to ride is given and the dream ends before you answer.
• Possibly an attack or a mimic: a pack of dogs chasing you on the ground, with no sky and no riders, is more likely your own fear or a sending.

If you work with them: Leave food and drink outside the next night, as folk custom did, and write down which leader you saw.

Love, money and life dreams: W

Wedding

Dreaming of a wedding, your own or someone else’s, is usually about union and commitment in some area of life. A dream where you are the bride or groom while single often reflects a readiness for partnership, while being a guest at a stranger’s wedding can point to two parts of your life coming together, such as a new job and your family.

The magical reading:

• During a love or marriage spell: the working is moving forward, especially if the partner is the target.
• If you work with a spirit: a wedding where you cannot see your partner’s face can be a spirit marriage being offered; take that seriously and do not say yes lightly.
• When it may be interference: if the dress is black, torn or bloody, or the guests turn their backs, look for a rival’s counter-work.

Wallet lost or stolen

You reach for your wallet and it is gone, or you watch it being taken. It usually reflects worry about money, identity or security, and often comes when bills are tight or after a large purchase.

The magical reading:

• After money work: a lost wallet can mean a blockage still stands or an old debt has to be cleared first.
• When it may be interference: if you see who took it, note the face; it may be someone draining your luck or money, and it is worth checking for crossed conditions.

Water

Clear, calm water usually reflects emotional peace and flow, while muddy, rising or rough water points to feelings that are overwhelming. A dream of swimming easily in a clear lake often comes when life is settling. The old Greek idea was that you never step in the same river twice, and water dreams often come exactly when you are changing faster than you realize.

The magical reading:

• After a cleansing: clear water means the cleansing worked.
• If you work with a spirit: water spirits such as Vepar or Yemaya are often behind sea dreams.
• When it may be interference: dark water rising in the house, especially when it repeats, can point to grief or an emotional working sent your way, and in some cases to a haunting tied to water.

Winning the lottery

Winning a jackpot in a dream reflects hope for relief, change and freedom. People often see the numbers clearly and wake wanting to play them.

The magical reading:

• After petitioning Clauneck or Bune: a win usually means the petition was heard, though the money may come in a quite different form, a raise or a debt forgiven. Write the numbers down anyway.
• When it may be interference: winning and then having the money snatched points to a blockage or someone working against your money.

Work and the boss

Dreams of your workplace, your boss or co-workers usually reflect pressure, ambition and how valued you feel. Being praised by your boss can mirror real progress, and being fired in a dream is a common anxiety dream before reviews.

The magical reading:

• During a job or success working: being handed new keys, a desk or a title means the work is landing.
• When it may be interference: a boss who becomes cruel, or co-workers whispering in a circle, can point to jealousy and sometimes to a co-worker doing work against you, especially if it began after a promotion.

Widowed

Dreaming that your spouse has died rarely means a literal death. It is usually about change in the relationship, the end of one phase of marriage, or fear of being left alone.

The magical reading:

• During a working to end a relationship: it shows the ending moving forward.
• When it may be interference: when you are trying to keep a marriage, a repeated widow dream can point to separation work done by a third party; check for it if there is a rival in the picture.

Waking beside a stranger

You wake in the dream in bed with someone who is not your partner. This is a classic cheating dream, and it usually reflects guilt, temptation, boredom or fear that your partner is drifting.

The magical reading:

• During attraction work: the stranger can be the person on the way.
• When it may be interference: if the stranger returns repeatedly, is sexual and leaves you tired and uneasy, think incubus or succubus rather than symbolism.

Signs of spiritual attack: W

Webs

You walk into webs in the dream, or wake in a room covered in them, or feel them across your face. Some dreamers find themselves tangled and unable to move, with something waiting at the edge of the web.

What it can point to: Few dream images say binding more clearly. A web around the bed usually means a curse or binding laid on you; a web stretching from you to another person is a cord. Spinning and weaving have always been the language of fate and magic, which is why the Norns spin and why Ovid’s Arachne was turned into a spider for weaving too well. A spider waiting in the corner adds the idea of something feeding, which can be a parasite or a person who benefits from your being stuck.

Ordinary dream or attack? A single web dream during a stressful time is often just the feeling of being trapped. Look for repetition, a start date after a falling-out or a gift, a sticky feeling on the skin on waking, or a run of real-life blocks that started at the same time.

What to do: Sweep the bedroom tonight from the back of the room toward the door, then sprinkle salt along the threshold. If the webs keep returning, our Are You Under Spiritual Attack? check will show whether a binding has been laid.

Weight on the chest

Something heavy sits or lies on your chest, pressing the breath out of you. You may feel a body, a cat-sized weight, or just an invisible pressure, and you cannot move or speak.

What it can point to: This is the old hag of folklore, a night spirit riding the sleeper. A presence that seems to want nothing but your fear fits a parasite. One with a sexual edge fits an incubus or succubus. One that only comes in a single house or room fits a haunting. A weight tied to a particular person points to sent work.

Ordinary dream or attack? Sleep paralysis is also a known physical sleep state that produces chest pressure. The markers of an attack are a smell or presence that stays after you can move, marks on the skin, the same hour each night, and other people in the home having similar nights.

What to do: Sleep tonight with an iron object near the bed and a candle lit in a safe holder. If the weight keeps coming back, our Are You Under Spiritual Attack? check names what is sitting on you.

Whispering

You hear whispering just out of reach, in the dream or as you wake: several voices, words you almost catch, or your own secrets repeated. It often feels like plotting.

What it can point to: Spirits in the home, an attachment, or the echo of people speaking against you, which some traditions treat as a form of crossing in its own right. If the whispers urge you to harm yourself or others, it points strongly to a negative attachment.

Ordinary dream or attack? It matters if it repeats, gets louder, began after a particular object or person entered your life, or if others in the house hear it.

What to do: Play quiet music or a chant in the room through the night and burn rue or rosemary before bed. When the whispering will not stop, our Are You Under Spiritual Attack? check can find out who is talking.

Wounds on waking

You are cut, clawed or bitten in the dream and wake with scratches, bruises or welts that match. Three parallel scratches are the pattern people report most often.

What it can point to: Physical marks after an attack dream are one of the signs to take most seriously. They can point to a hostile entity in the home, an attached spirit, or a strong curse. Location helps: marks on the back are commonly linked to hauntings, marks on the inner thighs to sexual entities.

Ordinary dream or attack? People scratch themselves in their sleep. Trim your nails and see if the marks still appear. Marks that come in the same pattern, on places you cannot reach, with a smell in the room, are another matter.

What to do: Anoint the marks and your doorways with a protective oil tonight. If the wounds keep appearing, our Are You Under Spiritual Attack? check identifies what is marking you.

Magical dream symbols: W

Wand. Being handed a wand is a spirit granting authority to a working; try to remember the wood, because people often can. A broken wand says your will is split, or a working has been undercut.

Wax. Melting wax is spell work in motion, and you can read the shapes in it the way you would read what is left of a candle. Wax dripping cleanly means the work is flowing. Wax poured over you, or a wax figure with your face, can point to doll work done on you.

Well. Odin gave an eye to drink from Mimir’s well, and wells in dreams still lead down to the ancestors and to deep knowledge. Drawing clean water means wisdom or ancestral help is available. A dry or poisoned well means the source you have been drawing from is spent or spoiled.

Wolf. A wolf walking calmly beside you is a guardian or spirit ally offering itself. A wolf circling your house is the other kind, a predator, spiritual or human, watching for a gap.

Willow. Sitting under a willow usually means grief needs room, or ancestor work is calling. A willow branch whipping at you can mean grief turning bitter, or a sorrow someone is using against you.

Wormwood. Wormwood is the bitter herb of spirit sight, banishing and necromancy, the herb in absinthe, and the name Revelation gives to a falling star that turns the waters bitter. Dreaming of it often means your second sight is sharpening, or something needs banishing. Drinking it warns that the visions you want come at a price.

Wheel. The medieval wheel of Fortune lifted kings and threw them down again, and that is still how to read a dream wheel. Rising, luck is coming around. Rolling over you, a cycle is repeating that you have not yet broken.

Witch bottle. In seventeenth-century England people filled stoneware jugs with pins, nails and urine and buried them under the hearth to turn harm back on a witch; archaeologists still dig them up. Burying one in a dream means protection is being set. One cracked or dug up means your protection has been found and broken.

Wind. A wind that moves through a ritual space when the windows are shut is a presence arriving. A wind that knocks you down or snuffs every candle means the working is being opposed.

Wings. Growing wings of your own is a dream people in Luciferian work describe as knowledge rising. Clipped, burned or torn wings mean something is holding you down, and it is worth asking whether it is outside you or not.

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