Hat / cap / hood / turban Dream Meanings

For Jung, hats symbolized thought, so if you are changing hats in your dream, this may be a sign of personal growth where long-held views are old hat and new ideas are developing. Freud, on the other hand, believed that the hat was a sexual symbol. Nowadays it is more likely to be seen as a symbol of authority, although if you take your hat off to someone in your dream, you are showing them your respect. In general, dream hats suggest intelligence and aspirations—your thinking cap—because they are worn on the head.

If your hat is taller or grander than everyone else’s in the dream, what could the aim of your unconscious be to set you apart in this way? Did you tip your hat in the dream or, perhaps because you have been accused of having ideas above your station, was it knocked off? If you are wearing a crown, do you feel that you deserve the acclaim of others in waking life?

Headgear is also associated with allegiance to a profession, team or particular roles in life; for example, a judge’s wig suggests justice. Your dream may be suggesting that you can learn much from the qualities displayed by that role.

If the hat is a helmet, this is a symbol of protection. A dream of wearing a hood may suggest secrecy and concealment. Although they also hint at flirtatious behavior, fans don’t protect but hide the face, as do veils (which furthermore have connotations with grief and mystery) and hoods (which also have connotations with death), so if any of these accessories feature in your dream, see if you can make any connections with your waking world. From whom or what are you trying to hide? For the devout Muslim or Sikh, turbans are symbols of authority, strength and dignity; for those outside these religions, the turban may be associated with the mysteries of the East, and thus can represent spiritual aspirations, as well as a sense of the exotic and a desire for more excitement in everyday life. It may also draw the dreamer’s attention to a male authority figure.