(1) Climbing a ladder or steps or a mountain, or going up in a balloon or a lift, may signify simply high achievement; an arduous mountain or rock-face climb may signify the accomplishing of a hard but rewarding task.
(2) The significance of the ascent may lie in the wider, more comprehensive (or more god-like) view of things gained by the ascent, signifying a possible transformation of your own life through changing your view of life in general - or by putting a problem in perspective, seeing it in a more detached and less emotional way.
(3) High ascent - to the top of a mountain or high in the sky - may symbolize the gaining of (or a desire for) a more spiritual, less worldly perspective or lifestyle.
(4) On the other hand, an ascent in the air may represent a state of mind that is too idealistic, or too much in the grip of fantasy. The dream may be telling you that you need to anchor yourself more firmly in reality, that you need to ‘come down to earth’. For ‘earth’ you might need to read ‘body5: the dream might be telling you that you are in danger of lopsided development through too much emphasis on the head - intellect, thinking - and too little on the senses and instincts.
See also Flying, section (4).
(5) What is ascending in your dream may represent something that is rising from your unconscious into vour conscious mind. This interpretation would be indicated if the thing was rising from a deep place or surfacing from the depths of the ocean. That something is coming up from the unconscious into consciousness is good: it is giving you a chance to become aware of desires and anxieties that you have previously ignored (perhaps deliberately).
NB Anxieties are often associated with repressed desires. Desires are repressed - rejected from the conscious mind - because thev gave rise to anxiety (perhaps in the form of guilt-feelings or fear of punishment).
(6) A special instance of (5) is where what is rising symbolizes libido or psychic energy. This interpretation would certainly be suggested if what was seen rising was a snake or serpent. (In Hindu thought, the serpent Kundalini - feminine - lies coiled in the base of the abdomen; from these genital regions she may be induced, by meditation and breath control, to rise through various psychic centres to the crow n of the head. This represents the bringing of the sexual-psychic energy into union w’ith consciousness - thought of as masculine. The opposite process may then be induced: the conscious ego descends into the unconscious psychic depths. And so the twofold process may continue, up and down, until there is a complete mixing of the mental-spiritual and psychic-physical factors.)