The Ultimate Illustrated Guide to Dreams, Signs & Symbols: Identification and Analysis of the Visual Vocabulary and Secret Language That Shapes Our Thoughts and Dreams and Dictates Our Reactions to the World

Many symbols carry an elemental power that transcends boundaries and holds significance for other cultures. The cross may seem irrevocably Christian, but in fact was in existence as a symbol in the pre-Columbian art of Central America. The goat is variously seen through the ages and by different traditions as either gentle or ferocious, benign or devilishly destructive, a female symbol of fecundity and nourishment or a male symbol of lust and cunning. This comprehensive and beautiful new book discusses and illustrates thousands of these fascinating visual elements, and assesses their position in language, art, literature, mythology, magic, religion and psychology. It also makes us more aware of the way signs and symbols are a subconscious language, that we are at times unaware of when used by advertising and art, or even in our own doodlings or body language. The same fluidity that can be found in the interpretation of signs and symbols can also be seen in the interpretation of dreams. Each dream has a particular significance for the dreamer, and similar content will have a totally different meaning depending on who is dreaming the dream. In the second part of this book, how we dream and how we interpret dreams is analysed as a way of accessing our subconscious fears, desires and preoccupations. This unparalled volume gives a wealth of information and cultural background to the primal metaphors that are part of humanity's universal, but ultimately personal, language, and begins a voyage of discovery into the importance of symbolism and dreams. Lavishly illustrated with over 2200 specially commissioned illustrations, fine art paintings and evocative photography, this book contains a vast visual resource of inspirational imagery as well as erudite and informative text.