E.1-6: Christian Dream Interpretation with Jung: How God Speaks in Your Sleep
Season 1: Episode 6
Christian Dream Interpretation with Jung: How God Speaks in Your Sleep
In this episode you will learn:
In this episode of The Christian Jung Podcast, Angela Meer guides us into the sacred tapestry of dreams—where Scripture meets Jung, and where the soul listens for the Spirit in sleeping visions.
Through the lens of Jungian psychology and Christian mysticism, we explore how dreams can function as divine invitations—rich with archetypal symbolism and spiritual authority.
We talk about:
✨ What biblical dreams teach us about the voice of God in night visions
🕯️ How Jung saw dreams not as mental leftovers—but as messages from the soul's depths
🕌 Biblical archetypes in dream imagery—from Joseph to Daniel to angelic visitation
🧠 Jung’s personal journey: keeping notebooks, sketching dreams, and perceiving the numinous through symbols
💬 Why listening to your dream-life might awaken your spiritual formation and inner healing
Whether you’re seeking deeper clarity in the life you feel stuck in—or longing for God to speak in unexpected, symbolic ways—this episode meets you in that threshold space between night and new life.
🔗 Join the Christian Jung Community: AngelaMeer.com
Episode length: 15:00
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Transcript
"Welcome back. Today, we’re entering a sacred and often overlooked space—the world of dreams.
Throughout Scripture, dreams have carried divine weight. God spoke to Joseph in the quiet of the night, warned the Magi in a vision, and gave Daniel the insight to interpret mysteries no one else could. Dreams were never just dreams—they were revelation.
Carl Jung, the Swiss psychologist, wasn’t a theologian—but he believed dreams were far more than mental leftovers. He saw them as messages from the soul, rich with symbolism, pointing us toward healing, wholeness, and sometimes... calling.
So what happens when modern psychology meets ancient wisdom? What if the dreams you’ve been having aren’t random—but part of a deeper conversation between your spirit and the Spirit?
Today, we’re exploring Jung’s understanding of dreams—and how that might help us pay closer attention to what God could be speaking, even while we sleep."
dreams in the bible
"Let’s begin with a truth that’s older than language itself: human beings have always dreamed. And from the earliest pages of Scripture, those dreams have meant something.
In Genesis 37, we meet young Joseph—favored by his father, misunderstood by his brothers. He dreams of sheaves of wheat bowing, of stars and moons aligning. Were they symbols? Warnings? Prophecies? Yes. And they were also the language of God—speaking not in words, but in story.
Carl Jung would call these symbols archetypes—universal images that live deep in the human psyche. He believed dreams weren’t random; they were narratives written in the soul’s handwriting, crafted by what he called the unconscious. But Jung’s unconscious wasn’t just psychological. It was spiritual. It had a voice, and it often spoke in the language of myth and metaphor.
Sound familiar?
Think of Daniel interpreting the king’s troubling visions in Daniel 2, or the angel who came to Joseph—Jesus’ earthly father—in a dream, telling him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife (Matthew 1:20). In every case, God used imagery, emotion, and inner knowing to guide His people.
Now, modern minds might dismiss a dream as leftover noise from a busy day. But the ancients—and Jung—believed otherwise. Jung once said: “The dream is the hidden door in the innermost and most secret recesses of the soul.” For him, dreams were not problems to solve, but mysteries to listen to.
Think of it like this: your life is a story. And like every good story, it has characters, symbols, conflict, and transformation. Dreams, Jung would say, are how the Author of your soul whispers from within the plot. They can reveal where you’re wounded… and where you’re being invited to grow.
You may encounter a lion in your dream. Or a storm. Or a child. These aren’t just images. They’re archetypes—recurring figures from both Scripture and the collective unconscious. The lion might echo Aslan. Or Judah. Or the power you’ve yet to own. The storm might reflect the one raging inside you, as it did for Jonah. The child might be the part of you waiting to be reborn.
In this way, dreams become spiritual invitations. Not for fortune-telling—but for formation.
So before we rush to 'interpret' our dreams, maybe we sit with them. Maybe we pray over them. Maybe we ask: God, what are You revealing here? What in me needs healing, or confronting, or letting go?
what’s behind a dream?
"Before Carl Jung became a name in psychology—before the books, before the break with Freud, before the Red Book—he was a boy with strange dreams and powerful intuitions.
In Memories, Dreams, Reflections, Jung writes about these dreams and how they stuck with him.
Later, Jung would call this his first encounter with the numinous—a spiritual force larger than himself. If you haven’t heard of my story with the numinous image in a dream in episode 1, I encourage you to go listen to it. I speak about our longing to encounter God in all of what He is—not just what we want Him to be.
Jung would say of his dreams:
“The dream left a lasting impression on me... It was my first experiences of a vision of the depths.” (or the inner call).
The child Jung began keeping notebooks. Sketching dreams. Watching how images repeated, transformed, resisted interpretation. In medical school, while others were dissecting cadavers, Jung was dissecting symbols. He was asking questions others weren’t:
Why do dreams feel more truthful than waking life?
Why do people across cultures dream of the same symbols—snakes, floods, wise old men, radiant children?
And could it be that dreams are not just about the past, but point toward something God might be forming in us?
What struck Jung early on—and what he never let go of—was this:
Dreams weren’t just reflections of the day. They were sacred texts of the inner life.
In fact, he began treating them that way. During his early psychiatric work at the Burghölzli Clinic, he recorded patients’ dreams with meticulous care. He found that even in the most mentally ill, there was order underneath the chaos. Patterns. Images. Meaning.
He once wrote:
“The dream is a spontaneous self-portrayal, in symbolic form, of the actual situation in the unconscious.”
In other words, the dream is like a mirror—held up not to your face, but to your soul.
So, when Jung speaks of dreams as a spiritual process, it’s not theory. It’s testimony. It began with a child walking down into the earth… and discovering that beneath the ordinary, the Divine had left symbols—waiting to be remembered."
ways to be transformed via dreams
I wasn’t raised in a Christian tradition that valued dreams. However, the Christian religion is growing exponentially around the world – particularly in hard places for the Gospel, because Christ is meeting people in dreams. Why do you think its okay for people to find their salvation in their dreams, but then never consider their dreams again?
This is one aspect of the western Christian tradition that I’m deeply puzzled by: it is very clear in Scriptures that the language of dreams is pivotal to our growth.
In the eastern world, Christians are coming to Jesus from their dreams. In the western world, there are several Christian movements that have learned to use dreams as well. However, most of the dream interpretation I’m seeing in the western Church focuses on dreams as prophetic. What I mean is they use dreams to understand their calling. However, I think it is incredibly important that we also understand that dreams, when interpreted in the Jungian sense, help us to see the pitfalls and challenges in our current life, that need to be overcome, in order for our calling to be manifest.
“In the Christian Jung community, I go deeper into how I interpret dreams to help me overcome sin and live fully alive in Christ. You are given all the tools you need to learn how to dive into the dream realm and understand its messaging. Go to AngelaMeer.com to join us.
"So how do we, as people of faith, approach our dreams? What does it look like to engage them not just psychologically—but spiritually?
The first step is reverence.
Dreams are holy ground. They’re not puzzles to be picked apart or signs to chase down like fortune cookies. They are invitations. Messages wrapped in metaphor. A kind of sacred parable told by the soul—what Jung called the psyche—and possibly even inspired by the Spirit of God.
In the Bible, people didn’t demand dreams. They received them. They waited. They listened. And often, they wrestled.
Think of Jacob in Genesis 28, asleep on a stone pillow. He dreams of a ladder stretching from earth to heaven. Angels ascending and descending. When he wakes, he says, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”
That’s the posture. Not certainty. Not control. But wonder.
1. Prayerful Curiosity
Begin by inviting God into the process. Before you interpret, inquire. Ask,
“Lord, what is this dream showing me about You? About myself? About something I’m not seeing in waking life?”
This aligns with Jung’s dream process. For the Christian, it’s not just the psyche we’re engaging—it’s the presence of the Holy Spirit moving within our inner world.
2. Look for Symbol, Not Literalism
Most dreams aren’t meant to be taken at face value. Joseph didn’t expect actual sheaves of wheat to bow down to him. The images were symbolic truths—expressions of something deeper.
Jung emphasized this through the symbolic attitude—a way of seeing life not just as it appears, but as it means.
A flood might represent emotional overwhelm. A locked door might symbolize a part of your heart you’ve closed off.
Even Jesus taught in parables—stories rich in symbol, not spreadsheet logic. Dreams operate the same way.
3. Discern Patterns and Archetypes
Are certain themes repeating? Are there biblical echoes?
Jung would call these archetypal motifs—recurring patterns in the collective human story. But Scripture also shows us patterns: wilderness, exile, resurrection, revelation.
Dreams of wandering? Think Exodus. Dreams of climbing? Think Mount Sinai.
Dreams of death and rebirth? Think the empty tomb.
Your unconscious may be echoing not just personal concerns—but spiritual truths embedded in the story of God’s people.
4. Hold Interpretation Lightly
One of the dangers is rushing to ‘figure it out.’ But dreams often unfold their meaning slowly, across days—or even years.
Even Daniel, a prophet gifted with interpretation, fasted and prayed for understanding. The goal is not to ‘decode’ your dream like a secret message. It’s to sit with it. Let it speak. Let it stir.
Sometimes the dream doesn’t make sense yet because your soul hasn’t caught up to what it’s trying to show you.
exercise your ‘dream muscle’
"So here’s the invitation: Don’t dismiss your dreams. Instead, approach them with faith, curiosity, and patience.
Remember what it says in Job 33:14-16:
'For God speaks again and again, though people do not recognize it. He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they lie in their beds. He whispers in their ears…'
Get your journal and reflect on the following:
What if God is still whispering?
What if your dreams are a place where heaven and earth still meet?"
“In the paid Christian Jung community, we dive deeper into these practices, with the main goal being your spiritual transformation and psychological wholeness. Membership is only open a few times each year, so I invite you to go to our website at AngelaMeer.com to sign up.
“Next episode we are going to discover symbology and archetype in Jung’s psychology and in our Bibles.
“We’ll be here every week, diving deeper into the profound union of faith and psychology. Join me again, same time next week, to awaken holy wonder.
Moment of Silence:
Encourage 3-5 minutes of quiet reflection: “Take a few minutes now to sit in silence before God. What is He showing you in this moment?”
Guide listeners into a short contemplative prayer practice.
Closing Prayer (St. Bernard of Clairvaux):
“Jesus, the very thought of Thee with sweetness fills my breast; But sweeter far Thy face to see, and in Thy presence rest.”