Oneiromancy

Prophetic Dream Interpretation

Oneiromancy is definitely in the realm of the mystical. In some cases dreams would be deliberately "incubated" in order to help gain insight into a problem.

The interpretation of dreams was particularly prevalent in ancient Egypt where the dreams of the Pharoah were given great prominence. Oneiromancy thus also occurs in the Christian bible.

Perhaps the most well-known example of oneiromancy from the Christian bible is Joseph's interpretation of the Pharoah's dream of cows (Genesis 41). Here the Pharoah is said to have dreamed of seven fattened cows emerging from the Nile, to be followed by seven lean cows that devoured the former. The Pharoah's magicians were unable to interpret this dream, so Joseph was summoned. He interpreted the dream as meaning that Egypt would have seven prosperous years followed by seven lean years.

Such a symbolic interpretation might seem natural to us today, however for many cultures in the past oneiromancy was seen as more of a science than an art. Hence there were books of dream interpretations which were consulted. If, as in the case of the Pharoah's dream of cows, the answers were not in the sacred book then the intepreters were at a loss.

The use of more flexible imagery and artistic interpretation is more akin to some of the modern psychological approaches to dreams such as Carl Jung's theory of the collective unconscious and archetypes.