To dream of death means …
“My mum says that when you dream of death it means there’s going to be a birth in the family,” said Georgie, although she was clearly disturbed about her own dream of a gravestone freshly engraved with an illegible name. I was interpreting dreams on Mix 106.3FM Canberra’s Breakfast Show earlier this week, and Georgie […]
Episode 142 Pythons in the backyard

Nicole is my guest with a dream about pythons writing in her backyard, and if that’s not dramatic enough for a scary dream, how about that sabre tooth tiger that emerges from the bushland? Oh, and did I mention unicorns? People often ask “what does it mean to dream of snakes?” There is no universal […]
The power of taste
Maybe I should open a patisserie. I had tasted the most delicious concoction of a cake in a dream. Architecturally it was a stand-out, a creamy white abstract puff atop a stack of four dried figs. I passed the cake around for everyone to taste. On closer examination, I noticed the figs weren’t figs after […]
Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) nightmares: a cure?
Are dreams always symbolic? What about recurring nightmares in which the dreamer relives an actual traumatic experience, over and over again, sometimes several times a week, often for decades? This can be the case for people with PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder, a type of anxiety disorder following a traumatic experience). How can these replay […]
Cheese, alcohol, movies and dreams
Does the movie you watched last night, the cheese you ate after dinner, or the whisky you knocked back all evening affect your dreams? Might a hot night, a thunderstorm, a full bladder, a rattling window, a screeching mosquito, or a headache explain away a weird dream? Yes, and then again, no! Let’s start with […]
Dreaming of people you know: A Checklist
People are such perfect dream symbols for your various beliefs, issues, thoughts, feelings, attitudes, memories, and experiences, but sometimes you need a little extra help in narrowing the field when interpreting the meaning of a certain person in a particular dream. Here’s that little extra help. Use this checklist (an extract from my book, […]
Fast fix
An original signed sketch by Sir Sidney Nolan, one of Australia’s best known painters, recently sold on eBay for $113.61. It would probably have sold for thousands if it hadn’t been pan fried. Yes, you did read that correctly. Pan fried. The idea to cook the sketch – a portrait of the dreamer’s grandfather – […]
Dream catcher machine
Imagine downloading movie clips of your dreams each morning. “What did you dream last night?” “No idea. Hang on a minute, I’ll have a look.” Research published this month in the journal Current Biology has led to speculation that this may be possible in decades to come. While no-one has yet captured footage of dreams, […]
Rosewood laptop
It was one of those moments when an unusual symbol from my dream popped up in waking life the next day. What does it mean when this happens? On Wednesday night I dreamed I untangled and unplugged a heap of electrical wiring to get to my very ordinary looking Acer laptop. As I smoothed the […]
Love your bad dreams
Here’s a simple formula to apply when you have an unsettling or frightening dream and you want to reduce the chances of having it again. Actually, it’s far more powerful than this. Not only does this formula ease your dreams, it also creates deep and lasting positive change in your waking life by subtly reprogramming […]