What does it mean to dream of flying?

An all-time favorite dream symbol, flying in a dream can symbolize freedom, transcendence, higher awareness, hidden power, and release from the limits of gravity. Flying dreams often involve vivid physical sensations and very positive, even ecstatic emotions. The hyper-realism of the experience can be incredible. The flying may vary in height, direction, length, and control—what are the qualities and conditions of your dream flying? These dreams can express a sense of happiness and elation in waking life, a feeling of easy speed and movement, even sexual pleasure and delight. Flying is a common ability of magical beings—angels, witches, ghosts, superheroes. Likewise, flying is often mentioned by Tibetan Buddhist monks, Sufi Muslim mystics, and Siberian shamans as a product of their intense spirituality. In this sense, a dream of flying can symbolize your own inner potential for spiritual growth, beyond what your conscious mind thinks is “possible.” Have you ever seen The Wizard of Oz (1939) or Waking Life (2011)? Lots of mysterious dream-flying! Not all flying dreams are positive, however; they can quickly shift to scary falling dreams. Several negative metaphors can be associated with flying: being detached, oblivious, ungrounded, with your head in the clouds. To fly can also mean to flee, escape, get away as fast as possible—“Fly, you fools!” Gandalf shouts to the Fellowship of the Ring while he battles the fiery Balrog.

Kelly Bulkeley

Flying dreams often bring a remarkable sense of exhilaration, and some dreamers speak of a strange recognition, as if flying is a skill that they have always possessed. The sense of freedom and exultation that they convey often open the dreamer’s imagination to the infinite possibilities of life.

If accompanied by strong feelings of awe and power, flying unaided can be an archetypal expression of the dreamer’s higher self, his or her sense of immortality, and an element in ourselves that rides high above the space-time constraints of the material world. Flying in a plane often carries relatively straightforward associations, such as a wish to travel or see the world, but can also suggest a desire for rapid progress, or to achieve spectacular success in a particular enterprise. Flying with the aid of an object that represents comfort and security, such as a bed or an armchair, suggests a desire for adventure tempered by a strong predilection for ease amid safety. Alternatively, flying may involve an element of delightful danger (as in hang-gliding), suggesting the will to take more risks in some aspect of work or of relationship. Being taken into the air against one’s will, on the other hand , may indicate that the dreamer is being forced into too much risk-taking.

Dreamers do not always fly alone, but may be surrounded by friends or strangers, suggesting that others share their insight into the true nature of things. They may be accompanied by an animal or by an object, perhaps symbolizing important aspects of personal or professional life.

David Fontana