Wound in Dreams
wound · wounds · wounded · injury · injuries · scar · scars · cut
A wound is read metaphorically as an injury carried: something that happened and has not finished, hurt made visible on the surface. It is commonly taken to signify what remains open, and equally the scar, which readings treat as evidence of having healed rather than as damage. The image is generally understood as a record kept by the body of something the person has been through.
Wound imagery is usually approached through what is shown and what is covered. Readings attend to whether the injury is the dreamer's or another's, whether it is old or recent, and whether anyone else in the dream sees it. Interpretation treats the image as a way of registering vulnerability and history together, and holds strictly to the metaphorical reading rather than anything concerning the body.
By detail
Place
a wound hidden under clothing or bandage
A covered injury is read as hurt carried without display. It is generally taken to signify a matter kept private, whether from reticence or from the practical judgement that not everyone needs to know. Some readings treat the covering as protection allowing something to close. Others note that a dressing also keeps the wound from being looked at by the one who has it.
Action
a wound that has not closed
An open injury is read as something still in the condition it was left in. It is commonly taken to signify hurt that has not been given the interval it needs, or a matter kept in circulation rather than allowed to settle. Readings generally treat this as a description of state and not as a judgement, noting that some things stay open because they are still being used.
a wound shown to another person
Showing an injury is read as hurt made visible on purpose. One line of interpretation treats this as trust, disclosing what is usually kept covered. A different line emphasises what showing asks for, and reads the gesture as a claim placed on the person shown. Interpretation often attends to the response, since a disclosure met and one ignored are read as different images.
Feeling
a wound that does not hurt
An injury without pain is read as damage registered without feeling attached. Some readings treat this as distance achieved over time, a hurt that has become fact rather than sensation. A different line emphasises numbness, and reads the absence of pain as feeling set aside rather than resolved. Readings generally note that the wound is still described as present in either case.
a wound reopening, or an old mark aching
An old place made present again is read as history returning through a particular circumstance. It is commonly taken to signify something in the current situation that resembles an earlier one closely enough to be felt in the same place. Readings generally treat this as recognition rather than regression, and note that the ache locates the resemblance before the mind names it.
Outcome
a scar, an old mark long since closed
A scar is read as evidence of having healed. Some readings treat it as history worn plainly, a record of something survived that no longer requires attention. A different line emphasises that a scar remains a mark, and reads it as a place that stays different from the skin around it. Both agree that the presence of a scar means the wound is no longer open.
a wound in the process of closing
An injury visibly mending is read as time doing what only time does. It is generally taken to signify a matter no longer at its worst and not yet finished, which readings treat as the longest and least remarked stage. Some lines emphasise the patience the interval asks for, noting that closing cannot be hurried by the person waiting on it.
Other
someone else's wound noticed
Another's injury is read as awareness of what a person opposite is carrying. It is commonly taken to signify recognition, seeing that someone has been through something whether or not they mentioned it. Interpretation often attends to whether the dreamer approaches, since readings treat noticing and responding as separate movements in the same image.
an injury from which something was learned
A wound read as an opening is one line of interpretation with a long standing: the place where something got through is also the place something was understood. Some readings hold this firmly, treating the hurt as the occasion for knowledge. A different line resists it, and reads a wound as simply a wound, noting that meaning attached afterwards is the dreamer's own work.