The psychology of colors in dreams: What they reveal about your subconscious

Colors in dreams are generally associated with emotional states, both conscious and unconscious. 

Psychologists like Carl Jung said that colors in dreams could illustrate the process of individuation. In simple words—colors in dreams help us understand who we really are…

In this article, we’ll help you interpret your dreams by explaining the common meanings behind the colors we often encounter in our sleep. 

We’ll look at the psychology of colors in dreams: what they reveal about your subconscious.

Let’s go!

1) Dreams about red aren’t only about love

In the collective consciousness, red is often associated with life and the intense energy of love. It is associated with passion, fire, blood, and vitality. This color is also symbolic of birth and womanhood. 

However, in negative contexts, red can cause anger, obsession, cruelty, impulsivity, and irritation of the senses.

In the spiritual realm, red is associated with the first Root chakra, Muladhara, which represents our earthly needs and keeps us grounded. 

In the Christian Bible, the color represents God’s sacrifice, Jesus’ martyrdom, and divine love.

When interpreting red dreams, it is good to reflect on what the color is motivating you to contemplate or act on. You can refer to one of the explanations above and see how it helps you to understand yourself better.

2) Dreaming about blue can indicate depression

While red represents action, blue indicates rest. In dreams, it symbolizes peace and tranquility. 

This is especially true for light or bright blues. 

If the color blue recurs in a dream about a person, relationship, or situation, it could mean that the dreamer feels that they are trustworthy and safe. 

Grayish hues symbolize complicated feelings. On the negative side, blue can also mean depression, fatigue, and hopelessness. 

To identify whether blue symbolizes something positive or negative in your dream, reflect on how the dream made you feel or what the color means to you personally. 

If you feel the blue dream indicates a depressive state, don’t hesitate to utilize your support system to address your subconscious troubles. 

3) Brown dreams mean you need grounding

While red energizes and blue relaxes, brown is a color that grounds a person. 

It is closely associated with the earth, the foundations of nature, and all that it implies, from secure relationships to predictability.

If you dream about something brown, it often means you need to be here now.

Basically, this dream tells you to face your problems objectively and understand the root or core of these issues. 

I find brown to be a good balance of red and blue energies, filling me with wakeful yet stable energy. 

4) Dreaming about yellow is a prophecy

Above the brown of the earth is the yellow of the sun and other stars. Yellow is commonly associated with positivity, hope, warmth, and at times enlightenment.

However, yellow can also symbolize poor health, sadness, individualism, fear, and betrayal. 

In the Christian Bible, yellow evokes humility as it symbolizes the ephemeral body and thus, mortality. Dreaming of yellow enlightens us with the unshakeable truth of how fleeting life is. 

In Kundalini yoga, yellow is the color of the Solar Plexus chakra, Manipura, which symbolizes one’s ego. So, if you dream about yellow, it might be a good time to reflect on how much your ego takes over your life choices.

5) Dreams about orange means you need you socialize

Another solar hue, orange, is an energetic color that stimulates mental activity. Orange represents struggling against what is holding you back and looking outside of yourself.

This can include widening your sphere of influence and seeking out more connections with other people. 

The color orange is an extroverted color that can be associated with a person who always wants to be in touch with friends, family, colleagues, and new people. It shows possibilities in socializing and motivates you to go out and make new friends.

If you’re feeling anxious about growth or change in your life, expect to see a lot of orange in your dreams.

6) Lots of green in your dreams means luck

Green, like the water’s blues and the earth’s browns, is a color that appears naturally in our environment.

Due to its association with the living earth around us, it signifies harmony with nature. It may also symbolize abundance. Green is the heart chakra’s color, so it is seen as a color of healing and hope.

Seeing green in dreams can also symbolize newness and freshness, a sign of embracing new beginnings. This color is also associated with new beginnings in one’s profession or practice. In my life, I’ve found green dreams to be a sign of good luck. 

7) Gray dreams indicate fear and detachment

Next to the green leaves are the gray stones standing the passage of time as you have. When gray appears in your dreams, you may be feeling how you have matured, or you may feel stuck and unable to move forward. 

Gray in dreams could show that you are feeling feeble, helpless, and afraid. The color is also associated with emotional detachment. 

I’ve felt that gray in my dreams has made me feel like I was outside looking into my own life, shielding myself from emotional issues through detachment.

Gray dreams call for a lot of introspection on how we feel about our journey in life as well as the subconscious feelings we may close our eyes to.

8) Dreams about pink call to your feminine side

Pink is a lighter shade of red and can be a symbol of romance and love. 

Like red, seeing it in your dreams can symbolize femininity and womanhood in general. Carl Jung made it clear that we all have an innate feminine side.

It may have us reflect on our relationship with femininity, which aspects we embody or detach from, or which feminine manifestations we are attracted to. 

The dream may be uplifting or upsetting, depending on your relationship with femininity or feminine figures.

On the other hand, pink may recur in dreams about women or feminine figures that we fixate on, romantically or otherwise. 

Pink brings us memories of girlhood and childhood innocence, maybe our own, our daughter’s, or a female relative we care for.

Given its association with innocence and love, pink may motivate us to be more caring, generous, affectionate, and protective of our inner feminine side.

9) Black in your dreams is about the shadow work

A mixture of all colors, yet barely being a color itself, the prevalent color black can be the most complex color in dreams. 

Black is often a representation of the unconscious, the unseen, the unknown, so it might appear a lot for you if you feel lost. It’s no surprise that this was my favorite color as a teenager. 

Black color in dreams can represent exploring one’s soul and becoming changed. At times this may mean that the change is one you find scary or uncomfortable. 

If you’re seeing a lot of black in your dreams, you must prepare to journey through the uncharted depths of your soul and your reality. 

10) Dreams about white are related to spirituality

White is often thought of as being the opposite of black. If black signifies emptiness, white should be all about abundance. 

But it’s not the case.

Yes, the color white signifies purity, peace, knowledge, and brightness. However, this brightness can also be blinding, concealing things within distractions.

Though white symbolizes concepts like “love,” it also represents love’s natural conclusion: grief. 

This can be seen in Asian cultures, where white is worn during funerals or even in dominant Christian cultures, where it is associated with heaven or even death.

If you have a white dream, you may be fixating on transcending the mortal realm through spirituality or transcendent practices.

White dreams show you that you have developed your spiritual side and you’re on the path of enlightenment.

Colors you remember are probably important

If you remember a certain color in your dreams, it likely holds a lot of significance. 

There is a reason why our mind wants us to hold onto specific memories, especially emotional symbols like color. 

Reflect on the colored objects and scenarios in your dreams, as they are often a key aspect of what your dream is trying to tell you.

Look for color combinations

Dreams are rarely monochrome, especially in this day and age. We often dream in color.

The colors you see may symbolize their positive or negative connotations. In more complex dreams, they may symbolize the dualities you face in your life.

When you think about how the two different colors relate with you and with one another, it could help you better understand the meaning of the dream.

The color of dreams in science

The author David E. Taylor wrote the book “Interpreting Colors You See in Your Dreams” which analyzes the connection between our relationship with color in our dreams and in the real world.

Since colors in dreams are not necessarily “seen” but rather remembered, it is likely that the dreamer may recall color based on its connection to the most emotional elements of the dream.

Just as the body has physiological responses to colors, the mind has psychological responses to them too. 

These responses may affirm or contradict one another.

In fact, seeing specific colors and remembering them complements and enhances the other elements in dreams to offer an emotional picture of the events. 

Color may be a critical piece when it comes to interpreting dreams.

To summarize

Colors in dreams carry both positive and negative meanings. To know which one is the right one for you, you have to depend on your feelings brought by the dream and your personal relationship with these colors. 

How you view colors in your waking life is closely intertwined with how you interpret them in your dreams.

Dreams with a color’s positive connotations may be a celebration of your maturity or a sign that you are more than ready to grow into your next life stage. On the other hand, dreams with a color’s negative connotations may be warnings or wake-up calls.