What one carries without the arms

One lifts with the arms, one carries with the shoulders. The difference is real : lifting is a brief effort, carrying is a duration. A load set on the shoulder leaves the hands free and travels for hours.

Dreams often use this figure for what you have carried a long time without thinking. A family responsibility, a debt, a role taken on so early it is no longer noticed : the hands are free, and yet the load is there.

The question it poses is concrete : what is on your shoulders at the moment? Those who dream of aching shoulders generally do not attribute the pain to what it designates.

The shoulder one offers

The other use has nothing to do with weight : a shoulder is lent. A head rests on it, one weeps on it, one receives there a hand that stops or reassures. These are gestures needing no words.

Dreams use this dimension for a support that cannot be explained. Someone whose mere physical presence holds : not advice, not a solution, a support. Many dreamers remember the shoulder more than the person.

What to look for is the direction of the gesture. Offering one's shoulder, leaning on another's, or reaching for a shoulder that withdraws tell three very different situations.

What rests on it changes the reading

A psychological reading, not a ready-made box

Depth psychology recalls that the dreamed body borrows its images from its functions : the shoulder, because it bears and is offered, lends itself to questions of load and support. It also notes that language uses exactly those words for responsibilities, which is not a late metaphor but the available vocabulary. Other readings recall that a dreamed pain may correspond to a real discomfort on waking.

Recently dreamed of a shoulder, and would like a personalised reading of this dream?

Discover a personalised reading
← Back: The human body The whole encyclopedia → Learn more about my method →