I am 26 Years old and for at least the past 20 years I have dreamt about tornadoes. I can’t understand why. The dream is always different. I have never been in a tornado or even that close to one. I’m sure it has to stand for something but I can’t figure out what.

In the dreams I have never been hurt although in one it did hit the house I was in and I felt it. I was very worried about my children in it. But this started happening when I was just a kid. I’ve been outside, in a house, and in a car before. And there are different people in the dreams at different times. Usually family members or people I care about. I don’t know if this has any bearing or not. I always do see the tornado - it’s not just that I know there is one. I see what it looks like. Sometimes I will go for a really long time before having one, other times it’ll be just a couple of weeks. Thank you so much for your time.

-Adrian, Age 26, Versailles, OH, USA

Hi Adrian -

Tornadoes often are associated with the real thing - especially for people who live in twister country. Your intuition, however, is that your tornadoes stand for something else.

When tornadoes appear symbolically in dreams they often represent people we know who are close to us who have unpredictable behaviors - who might “go off” at any time - usually with a temper or perhaps a drug/alcohol addiction. For example, a child with a violent, alcoholic father might never know when to expect the next outburst. For this child, an association may develop between “tornadoes” and “father.” Both are sudden and dangerous “storms” that one needs to shelter oneself from. Does this make sense?

Because the dream started when you were very young - you may also want to think back to the age when they began - and try to recall what was occurring in your family life and childhood at the time. If you grew up in an insecure environment, you may have feared that you would be “swept away” from your family - or conversely - that one of your family members would be swept away from you.

REPLY:

Thank you for responding to my dream. What you said made a lot of sense. My husband has a bad temper. So that could be why I dream of them now. He isn’t abusive he but can go off very suddenly at me or our children. I do worry about setting him off.

As for why it happened when I was a child I’m still not sure. My father left when I was born. I had trouble dealing with that and honestly still do. I was raised by my mom, grandmother, and grandfather. I was a little afraid of my grandfather but not to a large degree. I just remember always being afraid of losing the people I loved because my father left. Why wouldn’t everyone else, or what would happen to me if something happened to them? I had a lot of trust issues and such.

REPLY:

Hi Adrian -

Judging from your response, the tornadoes most likely symbolize your fears of losing your family - an association developed during childhood as a result of your absent father. You may notice (again by association) that the dreams today occur more frequently during periods of family stress or tension with your husband. But at least now you know what you’re dealing with! :-)

In the future, I suspect these symbolic representations of your childhood (and adult) fears will become more transparent. For example, the tornado may begin speaking to you in your father’s voice, or it may metamorphose into a related image from your present-day situation. Use this dream information to learn what emotional concerns are on your mind - and remind yourself to make conscious responses to these concerns.

Thanks again for sharing your dream. We would love to hear back to learn of your progress with it!