Dreaming about
dragonflies

Most of a dragonfly's life happens where nobody sees it. It spends months, and in some species several years, as a larva at the bottom of a pond, then one day climbs a reed, splits its skin and flies, living only weeks in the form everyone recognizes. So dreaming about dragonflies usually points to a change you've just come through, a long, slow, hidden stretch ending and something lighter beginning.

The dream can also be about the shortness of that bright part. A dragonfly that lands on you and stays is a gift, and one that darts away before you can look properly is about something you'd like to hold on to. Where you saw it matters as well, since a dragonfly over open water and one trapped against a window are very different dreams.

What dreaming about dragonflies means

Dragonflies are among the oldest flying animals on Earth, and their way of living gives a few clear readings.

Coming out of a long stretch

If the dragonfly caught your attention near water, especially if you saw it climb out or dry its wings, the dream is often about the end of a long, unglamorous phase. It might be years of study, a slow recovery, or a job you stayed in until you were ready to leave. You've been underwater, so to speak, and now you're out.

Something brief and bright

Because the flying part of a dragonfly's life is short, the dream can be about a time you know won't last, a summer, a new love, the last months before a child leaves home. If you felt a pang of sadness watching it, that may be what the dream is about.

Quick, sure movement

Dragonflies can hover, change direction in an instant and even fly backwards, with each of their four wings moving on its own. A dragonfly zipping around a dream can be about a time when you're thinking fast and feel unusually sure of yourself, or about needing that kind of agility to get through a busy patch.

Dreaming about a dragonfly landing on you

This is the most common dragonfly dream and usually the most pleasant. Something light and rare has chosen you, if only for a moment, and it often comes with a sense of calm. It tends to show up when you've received good news or kindness, or when you're starting to feel at home in a change you made. If you stayed still to keep it there, think about what you're trying not to scare off.

Dreaming about a dragonfly over water

A dragonfly skimming a pond or a lake brings together the two halves of its life, the water it came from and the air it lives in now. Water in a dream usually carries feeling, so a dragonfly rising off its surface can be a feeling that has come up from deep down into plain view. Clear, calm water makes it a peaceful dream, while dark or choppy water adds a sense that whatever came up isn't settled.

Dreaming about a dead dragonfly

A dead dragonfly is usually about something light or hopeful that ended too soon, a plan that fell through, a fling, or a good mood that didn't last the week. If it was trapped indoors before it died, the dream may be about change you feel kept from finishing, someone or something holding you inside.

Dreaming about lots of dragonflies

A cloud of dragonflies over a field on a summer evening is a dream about abundance and energy, often in a time when many things are going well at once. If the swarm felt menacing, it sits closer to dreams of insects in general, lots of small things buzzing around you that you can't quite catch.

Dragonflies in folklore

Dragonflies come with two very different sets of folklore. In Japan the dragonfly was a symbol of courage and victory, and an old name for Japan itself means "dragonfly island". In parts of the United States and Britain, people called them "devil's darning needles" and told children they'd sew up the mouths of liars. Which one fits your dream depends on whether it felt like a reward or a threat.

Dreaming about dragonflies according to Jung and Freud

Jung: an insect that lives in two worlds

Water is the image Jung found most often standing for the unconscious,^[1] and a dragonfly spends most of its life beneath it. In his terms, one that climbs out of the pond and flies is something from underneath coming into daylight, which is why a dragonfly over water is such a pointed image. He also amplified dream images, gathering what myths and traditions have said about them and then checking which fit the dreamer.^[2] The two sets of folklore above are that kind of material, and you're the one who can say which matches.

Freud: the wish to hold a moment still

Freud read a dream as a wish pictured as already granted,^[3] so a dragonfly that lands on your hand and stays is a tidy example, because the wish is for something fleeting to stop. It could be a summer, a person about to leave, or a mood you'd like to keep. If it darted off before you could look properly, then in his terms the wish is only half granted, and the dream is honest about that.

Questions to ask about your dragonfly dream

How you felt watching it is worth more than any folklore, so start there.

• Where did you see the dragonfly, and what color was it?
• Did it come to you, ignore you, or seem trapped?
• What long stretch in your life has just ended, or is about to?
• What would you like to hold on to before it passes?

Oniri asks this kind of question before it reads your dream. If you'd been by a pond or a river that week, mention that too, because what you saw during the day often sets the scene at night.^[4]