Dreaming about
monkeys

Monkeys are the animals most like us, with hands that grab, faces that pull expressions and a habit of watching what we do and copying it. That likeness is what makes them funny in a zoo and unsettling in a dream. Dreaming about monkeys usually points to a restless, jumpy mind, to mischief or chaos you can't get under control, or to someone imitating or making fun of you.

The tone of the dream decides a lot. Some monkey dreams are pure comedy, a monkey in a hat or a baby monkey asleep in your arms, and others feel invasive, with monkeys tearing your home apart or one clinging to your back. So start with how you felt, then look at what the monkey was doing and who, if anyone, it reminded you of.

What dreaming about monkeys means

Monkeys are clever, social and never still for long. They swing from branch to branch, grab what they want and copy whatever they see, and most monkey dreams play on one of those habits.

A mind that won't sit still

Meditation teachers talk about the "monkey mind", the mind that leaps from one thought to the next the way a monkey leaps between branches. If the monkey in your dream couldn't stop moving, jumping, chattering and grabbing at things, it may be a picture of your own thoughts lately. It's a common dream during weeks of overthinking, when you lie in bed going over tomorrow's list. The dream isn't telling you anything is wrong with you, just that your head could use some quiet.

Mischief you can't control

At temples in Bali and on the Rock of Gibraltar, monkeys snatch sunglasses, phones and sandwiches from tourists, and there's very little anyone can do about it. A mischievous monkey in a dream is often someone or something like that, causing small chaos you can't stop. It could be a toddler, a flatmate, a colleague who keeps undoing your work, or "monkey business" you suspect is going on behind your back. Did you laugh or lose your temper? Your reaction says a lot about how much it's really getting to you. Folklore has a famous version in Sun Wukong, the Monkey King of the Chinese novel Journey to the West, so clever and arrogant that he wrecks heaven and ends up pinned under a mountain.

Being copied, or mocked

"Monkey see, monkey do" is about copying without thinking. A monkey that mimicked your moves in a dream can mean someone is copying you, at work or online, or that you feel mocked, made a fool of in front of others. It can also point the other way. Ask whether you've been copying someone else, going along with a group without asking whether it suits you.

Not seeing, not saying

"See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" comes from three carved monkeys covering their eyes, ears and mouth on a 17th-century shrine in Nikkō, Japan. A dream with three monkeys, or one covering its face, can be about something you're choosing not to see, hear or say.

Your playful side

Not every monkey is a problem. A monkey you played with, or simply enjoyed watching, can be your own impulsive, curious, funny side, the part of you that doesn't take life too seriously. We all lose track of that side in busy years. And if your days have been all duty lately (work, kids, admin), the dream may be pointing you back toward play.

Dreaming about a monkey attacking or biting you

A monkey attack feels personal, because the animal looks so much like us. In a dream it often points to someone you underestimated, a person you thought was harmless who turned out to have teeth. It can also be your own frustration turning on you after weeks of holding it in. If the monkey was small and the bite hurt more than it should, ask what small irritation has been getting under your skin.

Dreaming about a monkey on your back

"A monkey on your back" is English for a burden you can't shake, and it's often used for addiction. A monkey clinging to your back or shoulders in a dream can mean exactly that: a habit, a debt, a dependence, or a person who relies on you so heavily that you carry them everywhere. Could you pull it off, or did it hold tighter the more you tried? The answer usually matches how stuck you feel.

Dreaming about monkeys stealing from you

Monkeys taking your phone, your food or your bag point to something being taken from you in small, cheeky ways. It might be time, energy, credit for your work, or money that keeps disappearing. Unlike a thief in the night, a monkey steals in broad daylight and runs off laughing, so the dream is often about someone who takes and doesn't even hide it.

Dreaming about a baby monkey

Baby monkeys cling to their mothers' bellies for months, and a baby monkey in your arms is usually about care, a child, a pregnancy or someone who depends on you. If it felt sweet, the dream is about tenderness. But if it clung too hard or wouldn't let you put it down, the dream may be about how much one small person needs from you right now.

Dreaming about a pet monkey

Keeping a monkey as a pet sounds fun and rarely is, because monkeys stay wild, bite, and need constant attention. A pet monkey in a dream is often a commitment you took on lightly, a project or a relationship that has turned out to be a lot of work. But it can also be the playful side of you, kept on a leash. Was the monkey happy with you, or pulling to get away?

Dreaming about a gorilla or a chimpanzee

Gorillas and chimpanzees are apes rather than monkeys, but people dream of them in the same breath. A gorilla is strength and size, the silverback who leads the group. In a dream it's often a powerful man (a boss, a father) or your own strength when you need it. And chimpanzees, our closest living relatives, are cleverer and more volatile, so a chimp in a dream can be someone who seems friendly and can switch to aggression fast.

Dreaming about monkeys according to Jung and Freud

Both men's ideas apply to the monkey, and the readings below are applications of them, said as such.

Jung on monkeys: the trickster

Jung's trickster turns up as clowns, fools and shape-shifters.^[3] A monkey that mimics you, steals your sandwich and runs off laughing behaves like one, and read his way it's the side of the mind that breaks the rules you've been keeping too carefully.

Freud on monkeys: small animals and small children

Freud's list of dream symbols has small animals standing for small children, often unwanted siblings.^[4] A monkey isn't vermin, but it's small, grabbing and impossible to keep out of the cupboards, and the dream where monkeys pull everything out of your flat sounds a lot like a toddler. That is our application, not a reading he gave, and his own starting point was your associations with the animal.

Other readings

Artemidorus, the 2nd-century Greek behind the Oneirocritica, the earliest Greek dream book that has come down to us, spent just one blunt line on the monkey: a rogue and a cheat.^[5]

The spiritual meaning of monkeys in dreams

The old texts that mention monkeys in dreams are mostly wary of them.

The monkey in the Talmud

In the Talmud, the rabbis' record of law and debate, every animal seen in a dream counts as a good sign except the elephant (when it isn't saddled), the monkey and the long-tailed ape.^[6]

The monkey in Hindu texts

Both Puranas count playing with monkeys as a bad dream: the Agni Purana in its chapter on good and bad dreams, the Matsya Purana in its list of dreams a king should pay attention to.^[7][8] The Ramayana, Valmiki's Sanskrit epic of Rama, is kinder. In the dream of the demoness Trijata, which foretells the fall of the demon king Ravana, a monkey who is Rama's messenger burns the city of Lanka.^[9] That monkey is Hanuman, a hero of the story, so the same animal is a bad omen in one text and the bringer of victory in another.

Questions to ask about your monkey dream

You may simply have seen monkeys at a zoo or in a nature film, since dreams take a lot from the day before.^[1] Chase and attack dreams may also be the brain rehearsing threats while you sleep.^[2] Beyond that, these questions help.

• Was the monkey playful, mischievous or aggressive?
• Did it copy you, steal from you, or cling to you?
• Was it in the wild, at a zoo, or in your home?
• Who in your life causes chaos you can't control?
• Has your mind been racing lately, especially at night?

When Oniri reads a monkey dream, it starts from your answers to questions like these, which is how the same animal can mean racing thoughts for one person and a cheeky toddler for the next.