10 Spiritual Meanings of Falling in Dreams
Dreams of falling are extremely common, and they usually carry important spiritual messages. However, they’re not always easy to unpick – so in this post, we talk about the spiritual meaning of falling in dreams to help you understand what you saw.
10 Spiritual Meanings of Falling in Dreams
Before we look at how to interpret dreams about falling, let’s start by thinking about the symbolism of falling – and on the face of it, falling would appear to be a universally negative experience.
Usually, when we fall, we don’t do it on purpose, and if we fall from a high place, we may be injured or even lose our lives, so falling represents danger.
If we fall from a very high place, it may take several seconds or more before we hit the ground, and this would give anyone experiencing it the sensation of helplessness – as well as the feeling of impending doom.
We have several negative expressions that include the concept of falling like “fall from grace”, “fall on hard times” and “fall to the ground”. However, there are a few positive connotations to falling too.
When people skydive, the experience of freefall is exhilarating, and falling through the sky in such a way is also liberating, giving you a sense of freedom and release.
For the same reason, falling can symbolize letting go of something, or it can entail surrendering ourselves to something, such as when we “fall” in love or when we “fall” asleep.
Some common interpretations of dreams about falling
Having talked about the symbolism of falling and the associations we have with it, now we can look at some of the most common interpretations of dreaming about falling.
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Helplessness or hopelessness
When we imagine falling from a great height, hurtling toward the ground and our imminent death, it conjures feelings of helplessness and hopelessness – helplessness because we can’t do anything to stop it, and hopelessness because we have no hope of being saved.
For this reason, when we dream of falling – especially a prolonged plummet – it can often represent these same feelings in our waking lives.
For example, this might happen if you find yourself deep in debt – your feelings of helplessness about your ability to get out of debt and the hopelessness of the situation might cause such a dream.
However, even though your problems are mounting, and it feels like you are spinning out of control, you still need to seek help and face your problems because that’s the only way you’ll be able to deal with them.
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Loss of control
A similar sensation is that of a loss of control, and if you lose control of a situation in your waking life, it might also make you dream about falling.
An example of this might be if two members of your family fall out, and the longer the feud goes on, the more acrimonious and destructive it becomes.
Perhaps, at the beginning, there was a chance of reconciliation, but now, after all that’s been said between the two, the chance of them making peace seems impossible.
And even though the feud is damaging your family and hurting lots of people, you feel powerless to make a difference because the situation has gotten out of control.
Of course, this is just one example, but these are just the kinds of events that might cause you to experience a feeling of loss of control, and when this happens, it’s quite common for your frustration and anxiety to spill over into your dreams.
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Vulnerability
Another possibility is that the dream represents your vulnerability – since when you fall, you could hardly be more vulnerable.
In this dream, the key aspect of falling is that there is nothing you can do to protect yourself. There’s nothing you can grab onto that will stop your fall, and you can’t brace yourself against the landing.
This means a dream of falling can also represent emotional, financial or even physical vulnerability in your life – for example, if you are in a toxic relationship, and you are afraid your partner has the potential to turn violent.
As always, after the dream, spend time analyzing your deepest feelings to see which emotions caused it.
Then, if you find that you are emotionally, psychologically, physically or financially vulnerable, think about what you can change to make yourself more secure.
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Life slipping away
A dream about falling could represent a feeling that your life is slipping away.
Most of us go through phases at least occasionally where we feel that the weeks and the months are just passing us by without us really going anywhere, and this can feel like we are speeding toward the end of our lives without ever having achieved anything.
However, it’s never too late to start making the days count, and this dream could be a reminder that this is exactly what you need to do.
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Transition and a new start
A far more positive interpretation of this dream is that it represents a transition and a new start in your life.
Very often in dream interpretation, death doesn’t represent a literal death but rather the end of one thing and the start of something new.
In this light, falling to your death could be a good metaphor for an impending change. Perhaps you don’t know what’s coming, and you can’t avoid it, but when it comes, it will change everything.
If this is what your dream means, try to remind yourself that change is often positive, so you should be ready to embrace it and all the new opportunities it brings.
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You are uncertain about the future
A very similar interpretation could be that you are uncertain about or afraid of the future.
Since we can’t change the direction of time, we tread an inevitable path from birth to death as surely as someone falling travels in a single direction toward the ground.
This means we can’t avoid whatever is coming, and when we are worried about events on the horizon, it may cause anxiety or fear.
However, instead of focusing on the negative things like getting older and dying, try to think about the positive things, and this will help you make the most of the time you have instead of spoiling it with negative thoughts.
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Letting go
Sometimes dreams about falling can be about letting go.
Often in our lives, there are things that we cling to, but by doing so, we hold ourselves back.
These could be old relationships, attachments to certain parts of our lives that are now over or even just bad habits like smoking.
This means if you dream of falling, you should think about what might be holding you back – and then try to let go of it.
Sometimes this can be hard. For example, you could be having trouble letting go of a departed loved one, and you find yourself thinking about them all the time.
However, you need to learn how to keep your cherished memories while moving forward with your life, which is surely what they’d want you to do.
On the other hand, if you are still holding onto a romantic relationship that ran its course and then ended, you need to come to terms with it and let go so you can continue to live.
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Fear of losing your position
A dream of falling could represent your fear of losing your position, perhaps professionally or even within your family or group of friends – or in any other part of your life.
For example, if you have worked hard to reach a high position in your company, but now your company is being restructured, you could be afraid of being made redundant and losing your years of hard work – through no fault of your own.
In this case, a dream of falling in which you experience emotions such as fear, helplessness and aguish could represent what’s happening in your career.
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You are falling in love
A potentially much more positive interpretation of a dream of falling could be that it represents you falling in love – although this could mean different things to different people.
Perhaps you are experiencing the warm and cozy feeling of falling in love with someone and you are happily surrendering yourself to the emotions.
As we’ve already mentioned, falling makes you feel vulnerable, but in this dream, you readily accept your vulnerability and embrace it as you surrender yourself to your emotions.
However, sometimes people might fall in love against their will or better judgement. It’s something that we can’t always decide, and sometimes it may feel dangerous or out of control.
In this kind of dream, you might experience a vertiginous sense of disorientation, something that makes you uncomfortable because you feel vulnerable and are unable to accept it.
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You are about to face your fears
Many people fear death, so falling from a great height may tell you that you are about to face your fears.
Perhaps something is about to happen in your life that you have been dreading and putting off for as long as possible – but now, the event is imminent.
In this case, your dream is telling you to prepare for it and to face your fear with a brave face since there’s no longer anywhere to hide.
Lots of overlapping interpretations of dreams about falling
Dreaming about falling can tell you about a loss of control or a feeling of insecurity, hopelessness or fear of the future – but it can also represent freedom, letting go or even falling in love. And as you may have noticed, many of these feelings overlap.
If you dream about falling, take time to consider how it might apply to your life – then, through deep thought and meditation, your intuition will help you understand the true meaning of your dream.
