Dreaming about a rainbow: what this dream usually reflects

What this dream usually points to (and what it doesn't)

Dream interpretation is not prediction and not diagnosis. This article separates what sleep research observes from what popular interpretation associates with the theme.

Dreaming about a rainbow does not guarantee luck, money or the return of a lost love, and it does not announce that something good is about to happen. What the scene usually comes with is a mood: relief after a heavy stretch, hope, wonder or the wish to make peace with someone. When the arc fades or appears in a threatening sky, the dream tends to carry doubt and insecurity instead.

Read also: Dreaming about rain or floods and Dreaming about the sky or clouds.

What dream studies show

In 2017, Francesca Siclari and colleagues woke volunteers several times a night while monitoring their brains and asked whether they had been dreaming. When the dream had specific content, such as faces, places or movement, the active regions were the same ones that handle that content when we are awake. The dreaming brain largely uses the same machinery as the seeing brain, which helps explain why a dreamed landscape can feel so real.

Research on the continuity between waking life and dreams shows that worries, activities and emotions from the day tend to come back at night. A rainbow spotted after a storm, a flag, a child's drawing or a photo on social media can all be the starting point. The weight of the dream usually lies less in the image and more in what you are living through. See also why we dream.

Sources: Siclari et al., The neural correlates of dreaming, Nature Neuroscience, 2017; Schredl and Hofmann, Continuity between waking activities and dream activities, Consciousness and Cognition, 2003.

Science and belief: Freud, Jung and faith traditions

In Freud's psychoanalysis. Freud saw the dream as the disguised fulfillment of a wish. His own example was simple: after eating anchovies or olives at night, he dreamed of gulping down water. Read the same way, a rainbow appearing after a storm could express the wish for a heavy situation to end. He also noted that dreams reuse leftovers from the previous day, so a colorful sky seen on the way home is enough to enter the scene.

In Jung's psychology. For Jung, the general function of dreams is to try to restore our psychological balance. Through this compensatory lens, a bright image during a discouraging time can be read as a counterweight to a conscious attitude that only sees clouds. For someone riding unchecked excitement, a rainbow that suddenly vanishes may play the opposite role.

In the Dictionary of Symbols. In A Dictionary of Symbols, Chevalier and Gheerbrant describe the rainbow as a path and a bridge between heaven and earth in very distant cultures: in Scandinavia it is the Bifrost bridge; in Greece, Iris, the swift messenger of the gods. The symbol also has a feared side. Among the Incas it was linked to Illapa, god of thunder and rain, and the ancient Peruvians did not dare look at the arc, covering their mouths with a hand.

In faith traditions. In the Bible, after the flood, God sets his bow in the clouds as a sign of the covenant with the earth (Genesis 9:13). In Afro-Brazilian religions such as Umbanda and Candomblé, the rainbow belongs to Oxumarê, an orisha who is also a serpent and stands for cycles and movement, according to the mythology of the orishas compiled by Reginaldo Prandi. These are readings for reflection, not predictions.

Sources: Freud, Die Traumdeutung, 1900; Jung (ed.), Man and His Symbols; Chevalier and Gheerbrant, A Dictionary of Symbols; Prandi, Mitologia dos orixás.

Common variations of dreaming about a rainbow

If the rain took up more room than the colors, also read dreams about storms and lightning.

When the dream deserves professional attention

Rainbow dreams rarely come with fear. If the scene turns into a nightmare, with storms that never end and a sense of danger, and it keeps coming back until it disrupts your sleep or your day, it is worth talking to a health professional: frequent nightmares can be treated. See how to have fewer nightmares.

Source: Morgenthaler et al., Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2018.

Dreaming about a rainbow in dream books

In the Brazilian dream book O Livro dos Sonhos, by L. P. Baçan, the rainbow means a better life in general and, in love, reconciliation. The second reading echoes the image itself: the arc only appears once the storm loses strength.

Man and His Symbols, the book Jung edited, is wary of tables like this: dreams are described there as entirely individual, and their symbols cannot be cataloged. For someone just out of an argument, a rainbow may mean a truce; for a painter, it may simply be a study in color. A dream book entry opens the conversation, but it does not close it.

Sources: Jung (ed.), Man and His Symbols; L. P. Baçan, O Livro dos Sonhos, 2014.

Popular beliefs about this dream

In popular readings, the rainbow tends to stand for hope, new beginnings and better days after a hard time. Many interpretations say a clear rainbow points to joy, a double one to twice the luck, and a faded one to the need for patience. These are cultural readings that help you think about the moment, but they guarantee nothing about the future. See dream meanings according to science and culture.