Volcanic eruptions Dream Meanings

Early dream oracles linked dreams about volcanoes with passionate but deceitful love. An eighteenth-century almanac claimed that if a woman dreamed of an active volcano, she would be driven by greed to ‘ensnare a husband by wantonly flaunting her charms’. In dream-lore today, volcanoes are generally thought to represent strong emotions, possibly carnal desire, held in check but bubbling away just below the surface to be released in a violent eruption of pent-up fury. In other words, hot passions are aroused, and care should be taken in case they erupt without warning into violent or dangerous behavior.

If you dreamed of visiting or living by a volcano—perhaps a famous one such as Mount Saint Helen’s—and then having to run for your life as it suddenly erupted and spewed molten lava into your path, this dream may be referring to a struggle in waking life to suppress your mounting fury. Your unconscious may have used this dramatic image to warn you that you won’t be able to contain your anger for much longer. What is especially telling about the volcano is its unpredictability; it could erupt at any time.

If the lava is prominent in the dream, feelings will run deep, but if the lava has cooled, there has been a deep passion which has now cooled off.

If the explosiveness is more noticeable than the lava, anger may be more prominent. On the other hand, your dream may have reflected the volatile temper of someone you live or work with in waking life, and your fear of being at the receiving end of their anger. Or is a torrent of fiery emotion about to explode in waking life? If it is, or might be, the experience can be devastating and yet also cathartic. To dream of an extinct volcano can indicate that passions have been killed off or a difficult situation has ended.