Ostrich

What does it mean to dream about ostrich?

An ostrich often stands for avoidance, the wish to look away from a problem, or a grounded power that runs rather than flies.

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Four ways to read it

Each reading below comes from a named tradition and a cited source, so you can see where it came from and decide what fits your dream.

Freud

Freud might read the ostrich, famed in fable for hiding its head, as an image of a wish to deny what the dreamer would rather not see. Its great body left exposed could picture how avoidance fails to truly protect. He would ask what you may be looking away from.

After Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams (Brill trans., 1913), public domain.

Jung

For Jung the ostrich can image a bird bound to the earth, strong yet unable to take to the air, suggesting potential that has not found its element. Whether it runs or hides may mirror how you meet or dodge what troubles you.

Jungian concept (our summary).

Modern

In continuity terms an ostrich may echo a stretch where you have wanted to avoid something, or a recent image of the bird. The feeling tone usually points back to that waking wish to look away.

Continuity hypothesis (our summary).

Mythological

Phrase and fable hand down the old belief that the ostrich buries its head to escape danger, making it a byword for willful denial. In ancient Egypt, by contrast, the ostrich feather of Maat stood for truth and justice weighed against the heart.

Rosmerta Publishing editorial synthesis (after Brewer; Frazer).

This is a starting point to think with, not a verdict. Your own associations matter most.

If distressing nightmares keep returning, it can help to talk them over with a doctor or therapist.

Interpretations are adapted in our own words from public-domain sources, including G. H. Miller, Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted (1901), Freud (Brill translation, 1913), and Artemidorus, with cross-cultural context from Bulfinch and others. Jungian and modern-cognitive entries are original summaries of those ideas. See the bibliography for full sources.

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