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 flying saucer or alien is not a sign of real contact, a prophecy or something about to fall from the sky. These dreams usually appear after films, series and videos on the subject, and in phases of change or insecurity, when something new and hard to understand seems to be approaching. If the ship was only passing in the distance, the scene tends to come with curiosity; if there was an invasion or abduction, with a sense of lost control.
Read also: Dreaming that you are being chased and Dreaming about the sky or clouds.
Why ships and aliens show up in dreams
Research on the continuity between waking life and dreaming shows that what we see and feel during the day returns at night. Flying saucers and aliens are in films, cartoons, news and short videos on your phone. A sci-fi marathon or a discussion about strange lights in the sky is enough to supply the setting.
Dreams of invasion and of being taken by force fit the threat simulation hypothesis, proposed by Antti Revonsuo in 2000: the brain rehearses dangers at night, including dangers we have never seen, assembled from familiar pieces such as chase, capture and flight. That is why an attacking alien often has the same plot as an ordinary chase dream, only in a different costume.
Sources: Schredl and Hofmann, Continuity between waking activities and dream activities, Consciousness and Cognition, 2003; Revonsuo, The reinterpretation of dreams, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2000.
Scenes that show up most in this dream
| Scene | What it usually comes with |
|---|---|
| A flying saucer in the sky, still or flying silently | Curiosity, wonder, a sense that something new is arriving |
| A flying saucer falling or landing near you | Sudden change, unexpected news, a mix of fear and interest |
| Aliens invading Earth or your city | A sense of collective threat, worry about the news and the world |
| Being abducted or taken into the ship | Loss of control, a feeling of being dragged along by others' decisions |
| An alien watching through the window or talking to you | Feeling judged or out of place in an environment, a wish to be understood |
If the invasion looked like the end of everything, it is also worth reading dreaming about the end of the world.
When dreaming about a UFO or alien calls for attention
In most cases, dreaming about an alien is just a strange dream. If abduction scenes repeat, if you wake up unable to move with a sense of a presence in the room, or if the fear starts to disturb your sleep, talk to a health professional: frequent nightmares and other sleep complaints have treatment. See how to have fewer nightmares.
Source: Morgenthaler et al., Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2018.
Science and belief: Freud, Jung and faith traditions
In Freud's psychoanalysis. Freud showed that dreams use leftovers from the day before, even the most banal: the trailer that played before a video, a film cover in the catalog. Through condensation, a single figure merges several people and ideas, and an alien with an undefined face can gather a new boss, a strange neighbor and fear of the unknown. Displacement does the rest: all the fright goes to the ship, and not to the subject that provoked it.
In Jung's psychology. Man and His Symbols calls mandala the circular images that, for Jung, represent the totality of the psyche, the self, and that arise spontaneously in the dreams of modern people. The book reports the dream of a 62-year-old woman: in a half-lit landscape, a quadrangular disc shining like gold moved at the foot of a hill. The dream came as the prelude to a phase of intense creative activity. In the Jungian key, a luminous disc in the sky can be read along these lines, as an image of order and of something new, and not only as a threat.
Putting the two readings together. Science explains where the ships come from: screens, news and threat rehearsal. The symbolic reading asks who this stranger arriving from outside is. It is worth noting the color of the light, what the alien was doing and what was changing in your life that week, before choosing a meaning.
Sources: Freud, Die Traumdeutung, 1900; Jung (ed.), Man and His Symbols.
What dream books say
A good part of popular dream books predate the era of flying saucers, and the subject often does not even appear in them. When it shows up in recent booklets and websites, it comes with ready-made readings: news from afar, a change of course, an unexpected visit.
Man and His Symbols, edited by Jung, is wary of this kind of table: dreams are completely individual phenomena, and their symbols cannot be cataloged. A ship can be the echo of the series watched on the sofa for one person and, for another, the shape of a move to another city that still frightens.
Source: Jung (ed.), Man and His Symbols.
What folk tradition links to this dream
In popular interpretation, seeing a flying saucer in the sky is usually read as a sign of news, different ideas or a change of course; the friendly alien, as openness to new people and paths; and the alien invasion, as fear of losing control or of imposed changes. Some see in the dream a spiritual calling or contact with other planes. These are cultural and faith readings, to reflect on, and not predictions. See dream meanings between science and culture.
Sources
- Revonsuo A. The reinterpretation of dreams: An evolutionary hypothesis of the function of dreaming. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2000. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X00004015
- Schredl M, Hofmann F. Continuity between waking activities and dream activities. Consciousness and Cognition, 2003. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1053-8100(02)00072-7
- Morgenthaler TI et al. Position Paper for the Treatment of Nightmare Disorder in Adults: An American Academy of Sleep Medicine Position Paper. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2018. https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.7178
- Freud S. The Interpretation of Dreams (Die Traumdeutung), 1900. Project Gutenberg. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66048
- Jung CG (ed.). Man and His Symbols, 1964. Portuguese edition consulted: O homem e seus símbolos, Nova Fronteira/HarperCollins Brasil. https://www.skoob.com.br/book/8435
Frequently asked questions
What does it mean to dream about a flying saucer in the sky?
It usually goes with curiosity, wonder or the sense that something new is approaching. Often it reflects recent films or videos. It is not a sign of real contact or a prediction.
Is dreaming about aliens invading Earth a bad sign?
No. It is a threat dream, similar to dreams of war and of the end of the world, common in phases of insecurity or too much bad news. If it repeats and disturbs your sleep, talk to a health professional.
And dreaming about a flying saucer falling?
The fall usually comes with fright and a sense of sudden change, of something that got out of control. It can also be just the echo of a film scene. The useful question is what was changing fast in your life.
What is the meaning of dreaming about a flying saucer in the spiritual world?
Some people read the dream as a spiritual calling or contact with other planes. It is a reading of faith that deserves respect, but science does not confirm predictions or contacts. Along Jung's lines, a bright disc can be read as a mandala, an image of totality.
Why did I dream about aliens if I do not believe in them?
You do not need to believe. The brain builds dreams from stored images of films, cartoons and news, mixed with the day's emotions. An alien can represent anything that seems too strange or new.
