Dreaming about
an umbrella

An umbrella only matters when the weather turns, and that's how it works in dreams too. Dreaming about an umbrella usually points to protection, from problems, from other people's moods, or from your own feelings. Whether the umbrella held, broke or wasn't there at all usually tells you how protected you feel right now.

The weather in the dream counts as much as the umbrella. A light drizzle is a different dream from a storm, and an umbrella in sunshine is different again. Who was under the umbrella with you, and whether you shared it or kept it to yourself, also changes the reading.

What dreaming about an umbrella means

Most people don't think about their umbrella until the day it fails them, and the readings follow the same pattern, what it keeps off you and who you hold it over.

Protection from trouble

An umbrella is a picture of being prepared, and a dream where yours kept you dry is often about feeling able to handle what's coming. "Under the umbrella of" also means being protected by something bigger, a company, a family, a group. If you were sheltering under someone else's umbrella, ask who you rely on for that kind of cover.

Keeping feelings at a distance

Rain in dreams often carries feelings, sadness, grief, release, and an umbrella keeps those off you. Read that way, an umbrella dream can be about holding emotions at arm's length. That can be wise, or it can be avoidance, depending on whether you wanted to stay dry or secretly wanted to feel the rain.

Sheltering someone else

Holding an umbrella over another person is care (a coat lent in the cold is the same gesture), and it often comes when you're looking after someone, a child, a parent, a friend going through a hard time. If you got wet so they could stay dry, the dream may be about how much you're giving.

Dreaming about an umbrella breaking

An umbrella turning inside out in the wind is the most common umbrella dream, and it's about protection failing when you need it most. It often comes when a plan, a support or a coping strategy stops working under pressure. If you kept trying to fix it in the rain, the dream may be about holding on to something that has already given up. Getting soaked and finding it wasn't so bad can be a sign you're stronger than you thought.

Dreaming about losing an umbrella

Everyone has left an umbrella somewhere, and the dream version is about feeling unprepared or exposed. It can come when you've let go of a protection you used to have, a job, a relationship, a habit that kept you steady. If you only noticed it was gone when the rain started, you may be realizing how much you relied on it.

Dreaming about sharing an umbrella

Two people under one umbrella have to walk close and in step, and that's often the heart of the dream. It's usually about closeness, trust or romance, especially with someone you haven't been close to yet. A stranger offering you their umbrella is unexpected kindness. Fighting over an umbrella is about who gets protected, and who's left out in the rain.

Dreaming about opening an umbrella indoors

Opening an umbrella inside is a well-known superstition for bad luck, and the dream often comes with that small shock. It can be about protecting yourself where you shouldn't need to, at home or with family. If everyone reacted, the dream may be about breaking an unspoken rule, or about feeling you need cover in a place that's supposed to be safe.

Dreaming about an umbrella according to Jung and Freud

An umbrella sits between you and the weather, and each man had something to say about both.

Jung: a roof held over the water

In Jung's writing, water is the symbol of the unconscious that turns up most often.^[1] Rain is that water coming down on you unasked, and an umbrella is the small roof you hold between it and yourself. He didn't write about umbrellas, so what follows is his logic and not his text. It turns the dream into a question about how much of what falls you let reach you. A raised umbrella in a downpour is feelings managed, and a dream where you lower it, or give up and get wet, is the other side of the same choice.

Freud: the umbrella among the long objects

Freud counted umbrellas among the male symbols in dreams, with sticks, tree trunks and other long objects, so in his terms an umbrella dream can be about sexual desire, disguised just enough to let you sleep.^[2] Carry that over to opening one in your parents' kitchen while everyone goes quiet, and he'd hear embarrassment, something private shown in front of the family. He still began with your own associations, so what an umbrella means to you comes before his list.

The spiritual meaning of an umbrella in dreams

The white umbrella in the Ramayana

The Ramayana, the Sanskrit epic of Rama, has a famous dream with an umbrella in it. The demoness Trijata dreams of Ravana's fall, and in the dream the one good demon, Vibhishana, alone carries a white umbrella, a royal sign.^[3] So in the epic an umbrella can mark rank before it ever shelters anyone.

Questions to ask about your umbrella dream

An umbrella dream depends on the weather and who you were with, so think about both.

• What was the weather like?
• Did the umbrella keep you dry, break or go missing?
• Were you sharing it, or holding it for someone else?
• Was it yours, or borrowed?
• What are you trying to protect yourself from right now?

Oniri asks what's been raining on you lately, so to speak, before it reads your umbrella dream.