Dreaming about earthworms: what this dream usually means

What the earthworm usually points to in the dream

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

Dreaming about earthworms is not a warning of illness, envy or loss. The image tends to appear in phases of silent work, when something is being prepared underneath without showing yet: a project in its early days, a change that moves forward slowly. The earthworm lives in the soil and helps it, and the dream tends to use this idea of a small thing that transforms.

It is different from dreaming about maggots or worms, which tends to revolve around spoiled things, contaminated food or discomfort with the body. The earthworm is a creature of gardens, rain and fishing trips. When it shows up on your plate or on your body, the scene comes closer to the dream about worms, and it is worth reading both.

Read also: Dreaming about soil and Dreaming about a crop field or vegetable garden.

Why the earthworm comes out of the ground at night

The continuity hypothesis, studied by Michael Schredl and Friedrich Hofmann in 2003, shows that dreams tend to follow waking life. The earthworm has simple paths to the night: working in the garden or in flowerpots, a worm composting bin on the balcony, a weekend fishing trip, earthworms on the sidewalk after rain, your child's science class.

Language helps too. In Brazil, "botar minhoca na cabeça" (literally, putting an earthworm in someone's head) means filling it with ideas and worries, and "ter minhoca na cabeça" (having an earthworm in your head) means being suspicious. Someone who keeps chewing over a matter may dream about the creature without having touched any soil.

Source: Schredl and Hofmann, Continuity between waking activities and dream activities, Consciousness and Cognition, 2003.

Psychoanalysis, symbols and faith on the earthworm

In Freud's psychoanalysis. Freud did not analyze dreams about earthworms in The Interpretation of Dreams. What he proposes is a method: separate what you remember (the creature in the soil) from the latent meaning, which comes out when the person associates freely. The earthworm can bring up a fishing trip with your father, a childhood game or the Brazilian expression about having an earthworm in your head.

In Jung's psychology. In Man and His Symbols, dream animals speak of the instinctive layer of the psyche. The earthworm, which lives in the dark and turns what rots into fertile soil, can be read as an image of the work that happens far from consciousness. A Jungian question: what is being digested in you right now, without you noticing?

In symbols and faith. A Dictionary of Symbols, by Chevalier and Gheerbrant, links animals to instinctive forces. In the Bible, the worm appears as an image of smallness and humility: in Psalm 22, the psalmist says "I am a worm, and no man", and in Isaiah 41 God calls Jacob "thou worm" while telling him not to fear. Charles Darwin devoted his last book, from 1881, to earthworms and the way they form the soil.

Bringing both readings together. Science shows where the earthworm comes from: the backyard, the rain, words. Traditions ask about humility and transformation. Writing the scene down when you wake up helps you see which question makes sense.

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

Earthworm scenes and what comes with them

If the scene had rain or mud, compare with dreaming about mud. If the earthworm turned into something like a serpent, see dreaming about a snake.

See also: Dreaming about a beetle and Dreaming about a penguin.

When the earthworm calls for attention

Dreaming about earthworms rarely gives cause for worry. It deserves attention when the scene turns into a frequent nightmare, with creatures on your body or in your bed, and you wake up disgusted or afraid several times a week. Repeated nightmares have treatment, and the path starts with a health professional. If the dream is tied to a real health concern, such as intestinal worms, take the question to a doctor. See also how to have fewer nightmares.

Source: Morgenthaler and colleagues, Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2018.

The earthworm in dream books

O Livro dos Sonhos, a Brazilian dream book by L. P. Baçan, has no entry for earthworm. The closest is worm, with a heavy reading: in life, illness; in love, quarrels. That reading fits the dream about worms better than the garden earthworm, which is why it is best to keep the two apart.

Freud called this way of reading the decoding method: each image becomes a fixed meaning, as in a key, without asking the person what it brings to mind. The earthworm of someone who tends a vegetable garden and that of someone who felt disgusted at lunch do not speak of the same thing.

Sources: Freud, Die Traumdeutung, 1900; L. P. Baçan, O Livro dos Sonhos, 2014.

The earthworm in folk belief

In Brazilian folk reading, an earthworm in the soil is a sign of fertility and of a future harvest; an earthworm coming out of the ground after rain, of a fresh start; an earthworm on the hook, of an opportunity that calls for patience. Many earthworms together are seen as petty gossip or too many worries. A red earthworm appears as energy, and a pale one, as a calm phase. These are traditional readings, for reflection, not predictions. See what dream meanings look like according to science and culture.