Tag Archives: ship

What does a sinking ship mean in a dream?

Overwhelmed by Titanic Emotions
Overwhelmed by Titanic Emotions

Dream 304: The Heroic Masculine Saves Your Ship

Water is emotion and the ocean is the best symbol there is for subconscious emotion. A ship represents how you are navigating your emotions, i.e., how you are keeping your head above water. A ship sinking in a dream usually means the dreamer is not doing well.

Ships have almost always been used to reflect emotional tones. When a political campaign is not doing well and staff start resugning and leaving the candidate, it is often said that “the rats are leaving a sinking ship.” When sudden good fortune comes into someone’s life, it is often said that “their ship has come in.”

The following dream is a good example of this imagery as well as talking about the reassuring role the heroic masculine archetype can take in the dreamer’s subconscious:

Dream 304: Saving My Ship

A young woman dreamt that she was on a sinking ship. A dark-haired man dressed in army gear helped her to not be afraid. She asked him his name so that she would remember him when she woke up. He said his name was Joseph Smith. She remembered this dream for years.


At the first level of dream interpretation each character in the dream represents a part of your psyche. The dark-haired man in the drean is the heroic masculine archetype with spiritual undertones. Let me explain.

The heroic masculine showing up is almost always good news. It is the part of your psyche that is willing to do anything for the dreamer’s own good and especially informs the dreamer’s actions. Soldiers are frequently representative of the heroic masculine simply because they are willing to die for their country.

The heroic masculine motto is “to serve and protect.” I believe he showed himself to the dreamer to reassure her that she had a part of herrself that would always be there to help her out of difficult emotional situations. Water is emotion and the ocean is the best symbol we have of the subconscious.

Her heroic masculine indicated that it was going to be there to save her from sinking into overwhelming emotions. Joseph Smith was the founder of the Mormon religion so this is a very spiritual heroic masculine archetype.

This dream is nothing but good news. The heroic masculine’s reassurance was meant to help her emotionally stabilize. Because it would use the founder of the Mormon religion, it implies that her growing spiritually may help her stabilize emotionally, to keep from sinking and being overcome by emotion.

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Dream 130–Getting Away from It All

Photo of Devil's Island, a former penal colony
Photo of Devil’s Island, a former penal colony

Dream 130 Getting Away From It All

A twenty-eight year old man dreamed that he was on a ship which navigated to an island.  When he went onto the island, there was a path covered with an ongoing bamboo mat which led to a vibrantly green and lush jungle.  There was a large muscular brute of a man blocking his way down the path.

The dream then shifted to his being on board the ocean liner which was anchored near the island.  There were two huge pipes that were large enough for a man to walk in.   The devil appeared and said that they should race down each pipe to see who gets to the island first.  He then saw himself lying on the beach with the island in the distant horizon.  A cloud formed  over him and  rained upon him.

Dream 130 Interpretation

This was an early therapy dream.  He was navigating his subconscious to find a new path in life.  The bamboo paving the way to his growth was the recent growth within him that allowed him to even consider therapy.  The lush jungle represented the new growth he was considering.  The brute of a man was his earlier macho man attitude which is similar to the savage masculine archetype.  The devil represented his shadow because he really “raised hell” when he was younger.  His shadow was encouraging him to race towards change and was trying to inspire his get up and go.

Sitting on the beach means that he was in that area between the subconscious ocean and conscious land.  He was backing away and distancing himself from therapy.  The dream assured him that staying away from therapy would not be pleasant and would result in depression (represented by the rain).