Dreaming Lens: Where was the ice in your dream? Were you putting it to use? If so, how? Was the ice naturally occurring? Was it the result of weather conditions? Were you able to successfully maneuver over or through the ice?
Personal Focus: Water represents emotions and ice is frozen water. Symbolically, ice represents emotional content that has been dramatically altered. The resulting substance is cold and hard—adjectives that do not conjure pleasant sensations when applied to one’s emotional nature. From the world of physics, we know that ice is not created by adding cold, but rather by the loss of heat. This tells us that when ice is present, warmth has been lost or given away.
Ice can also be dangerous, especially when one must maneuver over it. An icy road has the symbolic connotation that a lack of emotional fluidity can be treacherous on your path through life. This will be the case for most dream images where ice is being formed in nature. Glaciers, ice flows, ice storms—these are all symbolic representations of the negative impact to your forward movement that results from a freezing off of your emotions.
Ice has a positive side as well. It increases the enjoyment level of many of the foods and beverages we consume and is also responsible for the invaluable process of their preservation. On the symbolic level, you should consider these constructive uses of ice. But when examined at closer range, these useful attributes are more like consequences than intentions. Ice preserves perishable materials, because in its presence, very few organisms can live and thrive. This usefulness can also be said of a person who has shut off the emotional warmth of their heart: they may feel protected from life’s occasional brutality, but only at the cost of losing life-sustaining warmth.
The Dreaming Lens will offer you insight by virtue of where the ice formed and how it impacted you in the dream. In your investigation, consider both sides of this equation. If there is danger present, then your interpretation is clear and should connect to where in your life you are withholding love, warmth, and expressiveness. If you are enjoying the value of ice in some way in your dream, you may have to probe a bit deeper for true understanding. Measure the value you are receiving against the impact and cost you may be suffering and you will be well on your way to receiving clarity about what this dream image has to offer you.