What Dreams About Fire Really Mean
Table of Contents
Research indicates that emotions often accompany your dreams, especially those with negative connotations. Fire is often associated with strong emotions, such as rage, passion, or jealousy. If you have been feeling strong emotions about someone or something that may be going on in your waking life, these emotions may likely manifest in your dreams in the form of fire.
Interpreting your fire dream can help you decide what step to take next. It can make you aware of something you had never noticed before. In order to understand the meaning of your dream, it’s important to remember that all the elements of the dream can affect its meaning.
This is easier said than done, as for most people, the simple details of the dream can fade away after a while. While it’s not possible to remember everything, try to recall as much as you can, as it will help you to interpret your dream as accurately as possible.
The Symbolism of Fire in Dreams
Transformation
If you see yourself on fire in the dream, it may signify transformation or changes within. The burning skin may symbolize the shedding of the ‘old’ entity and the transition towards a ‘new’ one – similar to how the feathers of a phoenix burn first, starting the regeneration process.
This dream is quite common among women who are experiencing significant life events, such as menopause, since it signifies a major change in their life.
Warmth
Seeing yourself kindling a hearth or fire in a dream could indicate that you’re currently at a comfortable, pleasant place in your life and that you’re feeling content about it. The dream could also symbolize the start of a new, happy relationship or it may represent companionship, good fortune or news, creativity, comfort, warmth, or illumination.
Passion
If you feel excited because of a fire in your dream, it may signify a romantic flame in your life. It’s likely you’re excited and hopeful for this relationship and the fire you dream of symbolizes these strong and positive emotions.
According to Michael R. Olsen, a researcher in unconscious intelligence and dreams, fire dreams can represent strong feelings, passion, and love. Seeing fire in a dream can also symbolize cleansing and coping with emotional pain you may have experienced in the past.
Pain
Pain felt due to the fire in your dream may be a metaphor for emotional pain or stress in your waking life. There may be unresolved issues that are hurting you emotionally and manifest as pain and fire in your dreams.
Stress & Burnout
Some people tend to see dreams of their houses on fire. If you’ve been stressed or feeling burned out lately, seeing your house on fire while you sleep may be a manifestation of the emotional burden you’ve been carrying. It may signify that you have reached your limit, and it’s time to unload and deal with these stressors before they become consumed by them.
Jealousy
A dream about a fire that’s out of control and lit with intent to harm signifies jealousy or hatred towards another. When a dreamer finds themselves setting someone else’s things or someone else on fire, this might be a sign for them to think about whether they hold bitterness or jealousy towards that specific person in their dreams. If the person is a stranger, it could be someone who has not yet entered your life.
Desire and Curiosity
Fire dreams could indicate that you’re burning with curiosity, desire, or both. It could point towards something at your workplace or even in personal life. For example, you may be want to ask for a raise at work or there may be someone you’re interested in and are curious about.
Common Fire Dream Scenarios
A Town on fire
If you see a town or city on fire in a dream, it may signify anger or issues you may be having with someone in your inner circle. You may need to look into solving these issues before it’s too late and relationships are damaged. The dream could be telling you that once the bridges are burnt, you won’t be able to repair them and there’ll be no going back.
Workplace on Fire
To dream of your workplace caught on fire, may mean that you or someone you know will soon be ‘fired’ from their job. Your subconscious mind likely triggered this dream if you’ve been worried about getting fired or if you’ve been thinking about leaving your job.
This dream could also mean that you’re not enjoying your job and are struggling with some issues you’re facing with your co-workers.
A Dragon Breathing Fire
A dragon (or any kind of mythical creature) spewing fire in a dream could be a parallel symbolism for how words and rage are spewed out when angry. A fire-breathing dragon may symbolize not just the dreamer but also other people in their lives who may be spouting angry words at them or around them.
A Forest Fire
Often, the trees people see in their dreams stand for family members and a forest could symbolize a family. Seeing a forest burn down in your dream could represent anger, jealousy, or unresolved issues within your family. Now might be a good time to work on eliminating those issues and strengthening your unity as a family.
A Cabinet on Fire
While it may seem strange to see a burning cabinet in a dream, this is a fairly common dream scenario. To dream of a cabinet on fire could mean that you’re having pent-up anger inside you which you are desperate to let out. The dream can be a sign that you need to speak up about what’s angering you and that it’s time to let it all out. If you don’t do so, it could make you ‘burn’ inside, leaving you feeling uneasy and unhappy.
Fire and the Dreamer’s Actions
Eating Fire
To see yourself eating fire in a dream may signify strong emotions that are being kept under control. The dream could be a sign that you should control your emotions before you do something that could cause irreversible damage.
Seeing Yourself on Fire
This is one of the most terrifying dreams that often leaves the dreamer feeling traumatized long after waking up.
However, this dream doesn’t necessarily mean that something bad will happen to you physically or emotionally. On the contrary, it could simply mean that there is something you don’t like about yourself which you want to remove or change.
This dream could also mean that you’re going through a change or transformation or that you’re suffering from emotional distress.
Extinguishing a Fire
If you extinguish a fire in your dream, it indicates that you want to prevent any changes from happening. You may be the type of person who finds it difficult to adapt to certain changes, so you prefer to keep everything just the way it is.
This dream can also mean that you want to suppress certain emotions you may have. Perhaps you’re afraid to let others know about these emotions or you feel that expressing them will not benefit you in any way.
A Burning Candle
Dreaming of a burning candle could signify a spiritual transformation you may be currently going through. If it’s a church candle, it could be a symbol of peace, calm, and rest. However, if you see the candle inside the church instead of in your home or another location, it can signify the arrival of a new baby.Â
Many burning candles generally represent happiness and mutual understanding in your current or future relationship. For a young girl, this dream could indicate a marriage proposal from someone unexpected.
Seeing Your Childhood Home Burning
This is a sad dream to see but it has a positive connotation. To see your childhood home going up in flames could signify growth and maturity. It’s akin to how a phoenix, also called the ‘firebird’, rises from the ashes, a better and improved version of itself.
Running Away from Fire
Running away from a fire in a dream could indicate that you’re running away from stress, guilt, responsibilities, or something else that’s bothering you in your waking life.
If you successfully evade the fire, it could mean that you’re good at escaping from challenges and hardships in your life which could lead you to success.
If you dream of getting burnt while trying to run away from the fire, it means that you may be cheating on your work or on your partner. You may have enjoyed keeping it a secret until now, but soon it will no longer be enjoyable and you will soon be found out.
Is It Bad to Dream About Fire?
Fire is a strong, powerful symbol that represents destruction, cleaning, illumination, and purification. Many people feel uncomfortable about seeing fire dreams since they associate it with destruction or even death. However, dreaming about fire has more positive connotations than negative.
However, your dream could also be showing you something that you need to correct in your life. If you dream about fire, there’s no need to panic or worry. Instead, take a minute to think about your current situation and if there’s anything you need to change in your waking life. There may be some small lifestyle changes you need to make in order to achieve your goals and have the life you want.
In some cases, the fire dream may not have any significant meaning relevant to you or your life. Instead, the dream could simply have been triggered by something you saw in your waking life. You may have heard or read about a fire that destroyed a life or property in a magazine or on the news and this could have left an impression that’s stored in your subconscious mind.
How Do I Stop Dreams About Fire?
If your fire dreams are making you feel uncomfortable, try to train your subconscious mind to stop triggering them. Avoid thinking about anything to do with fire when you go to bed at night.
Instead, try to think about something pleasant, something that makes you feel happy, and visualize it when you close your eyes. You can also try listening to calm, peaceful music that will make you feel positive and think of happy thoughts before you fall asleep.
Thinking about your dream and associating the images you see to your waking life may help you to stop dreaming about fire. Dreams have the tendency to stop occurring once you begin to integrate the messages in them.
However, if you keep having nightmares about fire, there may be something larger at play and you might want to speak to a therapist about it.
Wrapping Up
Fire dreams can have many positive and negative meanings in dream analysis. Seeing fire in a dream is fairly common and isn’t a cause for concern. Understanding what the dream means can be useful for you when it comes to making certain changes and decisions in your waking life.
