Dreaming of a basket : what can this symbol evoke?

What one carries in full view

Unlike a chest or a bag, a basket shows its contents. Nothing can be hidden in it : what one carries is visible for the whole journey.

Dreams use this figure for what you carry in full view. A publicly assumed burden, a success displayed, difficulties everyone knows about : nothing is hidden, and that is sometimes what weighs.

The question it poses is useful : what you are carrying at the moment — does everyone see it? Those who dream of full baskets often describe an exposure rather than a burden.

Woven, and therefore mendable

A basket is not made in one piece : it is woven, strand by strand, and one strand can be replaced without undoing everything. It is a poor object, sturdy, and mendable.

Dreams often use this structure to speak of what holds by interlacing rather than by mass. A family, a friendship, a modest organisation : nothing in it is solid in itself, and the whole resists because everything is tied to everything.

What to remember is the state of the weave. Tight, it carries ; slack, it loses its contents through the bottom ; broken at one point, it can still be taken up again — and that last variant is the most frequent.

What it holds changes the reading

• A full, heavy basket — a burden carried in full view, which is not the same as a heavy burden.
• An empty basket still carried — the habit of a function whose object has vanished.
• A bottom that lets things through — what you lose along the way without noticing.
• A broken strand — a mendable weak point, provided it is seen.
• A basket offered — a gift that shows, with what that implies of the public.
• Placing something in it — a gesture of setting down, lighter than entrusting.

A psychological reading, not a ready-made box

Depth psychology takes an interest in containers because they figure what makes carrying possible : without a container, a load disperses. It distinguishes those that close from those that show, noting that the latter often designate situations where exposure is part of the weight. Other readings retain the weaving and see a figure of wholes that hold by their ties rather than by strength.