Dreaming of your mother in wicca: meaning

Within this tradition

Many contemporary witches work with the triple goddess: Maiden, Mother and Crone. That scheme became popular in the twentieth century, partly through the poet Robert Graves, and fits the stages of a woman's life and the moon, in which the full moon is the Mother. It is not an ancient, handed-down doctrine and not everyone uses it, but it gives the Mother a fixed place: creative power, nourishment, protection, the fruit that ripens.

The earth goes with her. In wicca the earth is often greeted as Mother, and autumn, with the harvest festival of Mabon, is celebrated as a time of abundance and thanks. A mother dream in a garden, in a kitchen full of smells or under a full moon is in that circle often read as an image of what is being nourished: a plan, a relationship, yourself. The dreamer is asked what is ripe now, and what needs care.

A myth practitioners often cite is that of Demeter and Persephone, told in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. A mother searches for her daughter, and during her grief the earth stays bare. The story is about the pain of separation and the return that follows. A dream in which you search for your mother or cannot find her can be read that way: a parting that is under way in your life, and that also leads to a new season.

Notably, many practitioners do not see the mother in the dream only as the gentle figure. The Mother can also be fierce, possessive or domineering. Within shadow work the mother of the dream becomes a mirror: where is your own caring, and where did you need it without getting it? That is an invitation to explore, not a judgement on her or on you.

Many practitioners write such a dream down in a dream journal, with the moon phase alongside, and see whether it returns. Wicca has no dogma about dreams, and practices differ. If the dream touched old pain, a therapist is a good place to talk about it.

Common variations