What Do Dreams of Unicorns Mean?

What Do Dreams of Unicorns Mean and Symbolise?

Who doesn’t love unicorns? Associated with child-like innocence and purity for thousands of years, unicorns have embedded their place in pop culture and fashion over recent years, to be more popular than ever before.

Worshipped in ancient Babylon and described in the works of Leonardo Da Vinci, the unicorn has been described since antiquity as a beast with a single large pointed spiraling horn protruding from its forehead. In the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the unicorn was a symbol of sacred and profane chastity, usually depicted as a wild woodland creature. It was a symbol of purity and grace that could be captured only by a virgin.

Some of history’s greatest minds have been interested in unicorns. In one of his notebooks Da Vinci wrote: “The unicorn, through its intemperance and not knowing how to control itself, for the love it bears to fair maidens forgets its ferocity and wildness; and laying aside all fear it will go up to a seated damsel and go to sleep in her lap, and thus the hunters take it.” How terrible!

Here we take a deep delve into the subject of unicorn dreams and what they could mean to your life.

The dream:

Deep in a misty forest you’re walking alongside a stream, on a mission to find the heart of the woods. The sunset paints the evening sky a gorgeous shade of red-orange and there’s magic in the air. Guiding you onwards is an instinctive feeling you’re about to make an incredible discovery.

Then you enter a clearing. There’s a loud commotion as a flock of blackbirds takes wing and you feel a strange sensation that you’ve been here before. Right in front of you the stream flows into a glimmering lake, and there at its bank it is. A beautiful unicorn is drinking from the crystal clear water.

Looking exactly as you had always imagined since you fell in love with these ‘mythical’ creatures from childhood fairytales, the unicorn radiates an aura of peace, tranquility and goodness. It looks up and sees you. Without any fear it turns and walks gracefully towards you. You have never been so in awe of anything.

But then you wake up at home in bed. It was only a wonderful dream. But what could it mean?

Meaning(s) of the dream:

The unicorn has long symbolised the aspects associated with goodness such as gentleness, kindness, purity, and innocence, but they are also a symbol of power. According to Dream Astro Meanings, unicorns represent feminine energy, enchantment and miracles.

The meaning of a unicorn dream depends greatly on the form in which the unicorn enters your dreams; you may see one flying in the air, be riding on one yourself, you might see a pure white unicorn or one in rainbow colours. Here we take a closer look at all these different meanings.

1. Dreaming of a flying unicorn

Dreaming about a flying unicorn can reveal your longing to travel to new places or start something new. According to Labex Cortex, if you’ve been putting your plans on the shelf due to work commitments, then this dream is telling you that now is the perfect time to finally do it. “Don’t push any further or you will never be able to do it in the near future,” they warn.

2. Dreaming of riding a unicorn

Surely riding a unicorn must be the most incredible dream anyone could have! Having this wonderful dream can be considered a harbinger of success in business. According to Check My Dream, this dream predicts incredible luck, success, easiness and joy, and that “This is one of the most auspicious symbols that you can only dream of.”

Related: What do flying dreams mean?

3. Dreaming of a white unicorn

White unicorns in dreams are usually seen as symbols of virginity and purity. “Perhaps you have found someone or something that has reminded you of your innocence. If you feel bliss and excited to see the unicorn in the dream, it could also suggest new excitement about entering your life,” according to Dream Meaning Net.

4. Dreaming of a rainbow unicorn

The rainbow unicorn is a unicorn species with a rainbow-colored mane and tail. Rejoice if you wake up after meeting a rainbow coloured unicorn in your dream. That’s because it’s said to be a sure sign of success. “While there is very little information available on its living habits, some stories say rainbow unicorns like solitude more than “classic” unicorns. Rainbow unicorns often live in isolated, damp areas, even near swamps,” according to the wonderfully named website Magical Unicorn Life.

Answering the dream:

The word unicorn has ancient origins, coming from the Latin word unicornis, meaning ‘one horn’ – but the modern unicorn trend has exploded thanks to the power of nostalgia. Many people are finding a new affection for unicorns because they are imaginary and fantastical, making them a perfect escape from the bewildering times of today.

According to Dreams Astro Meanings unicorns call us to regain our childhood enthusiasm and start believing in the impossible. If you have this dream it’s time to stop wasting your creative potential as, “the unicorn is asking us to start using our creativity instead of wasting our talents. Because it rules intuition and insights from other realms, this magical animal could appear in our life to help us develop our psychic gifts.”

Notable appearances in popular culture:

Transcending ancient mythology and the fairytales of our childhoods, the image of the unicorn can be seen displayed almost everywhere these days. It’s fair to say pop culture has a unicorn obsession and they’re on children’s television, selling beauty products, adult fashion, and on gay pride marches. The unicorn trend is all about rainbows, pastel colours, iridescent hues – basically everything shimmery.

Jane Buckingham, founder of the trend forecasting company Trendera, told Vox that behind the unicorn trend was a combination of factors. “Not only do the millennials remember the unicorn as a fun, carefree symbol of their youth, but in confusing times, we want things that provide hope and positivity. And nothing symbolises that more than the unicorn.”

And Dr Miles Leeson, director of the Iris Murdoch Research Centre and a lecturer in English literature, told The Guardian that unicorns have been popular for at least 3,000 years. They were considered to be real by the ancient Greeks, not myths. That’s why they appeared in books of natural history, not texts about the gods.

“The Old Testament contains possible mentions of unicorns, and from there they have been incorporated into Western art and culture, surfacing at various times, including the Medieval period and the Renaissance. The unicorn also has a role to play in Chinese mythology,” explained Dr Leeson.

But let’s leave the final word on the unicorn to Juliette Wood, author of Fantastic Creatures in Mythology and Folklore, “It can represent sacred and romantic love, it looks gentle but it’s fierce, yet the horn protects against poison. I think the unicorn has endured in culture because it’s just too lovely and rare to abandon, isn’t it?”