Wall:
1) PSYCHOLOGY: An Ego-imposed separation from Other.  Is the wall 
               keeping something out or holding something in?  Can 
               it be breached?  Should it be?  What boundary does 
               it define?

Want:
1) PSYCHOLOGY: What one desires in a dream often corresponds with 
               an actual Unconscious need.  The dream brings this 
               need to conscious awareness, so that balance may be 
               restored.

War:
1) PSYCHOLOGY: A relentless onslaught of repressed drives and 
               emotions trying to break into the dreamer's 
               conscious world.

Washing:
1) PSYCHOLOGY: A scrubbing away of old guilt, fear and emotion no 
               longer useful to the psyche, preparing the dreamer 
               for regeneration.

Water:
1) PSYCHOLOGY: If the water flows, it represents the Tao, the 
               balanced flow of the universe.  If the water is  a 
               bounded body, such as a lake, an ocean, or even an 
               aquarium, it represents the depths of the dreamer's 
               Unconscious.  The surface of a body of water 
               represents the conscious mind.

Water Lily:
1) PSYCHOLOGY: Symbol of the whole Self, blooming into beauty on 
               the surface of consciousness, with its root firmly 
               rooted  in the depths of the Unconscious.

Waves:
1) PSYCHOLOGY: Agitation on the surface (consciousness).

Wedding:
1) PSYCHOLOGY: Union of the (male) Animus and (female) Anima 
               natures, bringing the dreamer closer to wholeness.

Well:
1) PSYCHOLOGY: Point where the store of Unconscious powers is made 
               available to the surface consciousness.

Whale:
1) PSYCHOLOGY: The Unconscious feminine nature in its mother role; 
               the womb.  The ocean is the Unconscious, and the 
               whale is the largest and most magnificent of the 
               ocean's sea cows. Jonah was 'reborn' from the whale.

Wheel:
1) PSYCHOLOGY: A symbol of wholeness and completion, representing 
               the realized Self.

Whirlpool:
1) PSYCHOLOGY: Ego anxiety of being pulled into the Unconscious 
               underworld.

Whiskers:
1) PSYCHOLOGY: Symbolizes virility in most cultures.  The more 
               hair, the more libidinous the symbol.

Wife:
1) PSYCHOLOGY: One's wife often possesses (or has projected upon 
               her) the characteristics of the dreamer's own Anima,
               both in the waking world and in the language of 
               dreams.  Her role in a man's dream is to lead him 
               closer to his own Center, where Anima and Animus 
               may merge to further the integration of the 
               dreamer's Self.

Willow:
1) PSYCHOLOGY: A Collective Unconscious symbol of sorrow and 
               mourning, related to water (Unconsciousness).  
               These trees are often found on the banks of ponds.  
               Ancient burial mounds in the British Isles were 
               often built on the banks of lakes and lined with 
               willows.

Window Shade:
1) PSYCHOLOGY: The psychic membrane that separates the conscious 
               and Unconscious planes.  To lift, part or rend the 
               veil is to invite awareness of what lies beyond.

Wine:
1) PSYCHOLOGY: A 'nectar of the Gods' in Mediterranean mythologies;
               the 'blood' of Christ in the oldest of Christian 
               sects.  Drinking wine in a dream opens the dreamer 
               up to communion with the Divine, a spiritual 
               journey in search of one's Higher Self.

Wings:
1) PSYCHOLOGY: Transcendence to a higher plane of Being.

Winter:
1) PSYCHOLOGY: A signal that the dreamer has reached a cyclical 
               stage of dormancy -- a time to live off stored 
               surplus, rest, gestate and recharge for a coming 
               Spring of rebirth and rampant personal growth.

Witch:
1) PSYCHOLOGY: Repressed negative emotions toward women (especially 
               one's mother) have constellated into a malevolent 
               complex -- a 'dark Anima' -- with the beneficient 
               archetype of Mother Earth/Earth Goddess at its core.
               The Ego must face and resolve these repressed 
               emotions, stripping the complex of its potency and 
               freeing the powerful feminine archetype to use its 
               healing, nurturing powers on one's psyche.

Wizard:
1) PSYCHOLOGY: An ambivalent Wise Old Man dream character who can 
               use the dreamer's untapped Unconscious power to do 
               great good or great harm.

Wolf:
1) PSYCHOLOGY: A primal, instinctual part of one's psyche which 
               the Ego fears might overthrow it, and, as in 
               lycanthropy, cause great harm in the conscious 
               world.

Worry:
1) PSYCHOLOGY: Freudians postulate that the anxiety you feel in a 
               dream actually masks a suppressed desire to perform 
               a violent or vile act.  The dream anxiety would 
               represent fear of the consequences of such an act.

Wound:
1) PSYCHOLOGY: If it is the dreamer who is cut, this symbolizes an 
               initiation -- the carving of a tattoo, a 
               circumcision or even a castration, regardless of 
               the dreamer's sex.  Such an initiation symbolizes 
               the passage to a higher state of being or awareness.

Writing:
1) PSYCHOLOGY: What is being written in the dream is significant 
               to the dream's meaning.  The Unconscious has chosen 
               a literal image to ensure the dreamer gets the 
               message.

Copyright 1996 Roger Norton Consulting. All rights reserved.