Dreaming about Oxalá: what the dream may reflect

Dreaming about Oxalá: what it usually points to

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 Oxalá is not an announcement of a miracle, a cure or a punishment. In candomblé, an Afro-Brazilian religion rooted in the Yoruba traditions of West Africa, and in umbanda, a Brazilian religion that blends African, Indigenous, Catholic and Spiritist elements, Oxalá (Obatala in Yoruba) is the orixá of creation and peace. Orixás, or orishas, are the deities of these religions, and Oxalá is linked to the color white, to calm and to the wisdom of the elders. In dreams, these images tend to appear in phases when a person is looking for peace, needs to start something over or feels faced with a decision that calls for patience.

The dream also does not ask you to hurry, or to do anything out of obligation. Research sees memory and emotion in it; the religious meaning belongs to each person's faith and to the guidance of their own house of worship. If there was a terreiro (an Afro-Brazilian house of worship), a gira (an umbanda ceremony with chants and dancing) or atabaque drums in the scene, it is also worth reading the general article on the subject.

Read also: Dreaming about macumba or umbanda and Dreaming about Jesus.

Where the image of Oxalá in the dream comes from

According to the continuity hypothesis (Schredl and Hofmann, 2003), dreams reuse what fills waking life. Oxalá is very present in Brazilian culture: in the Washing of Bonfim in Salvador, Bahia, when women in traditional white Bahian dress wash the steps of the church; in the custom of wearing white on Fridays; in the white clothes many Brazilians wear on New Year's Eve; in songs that mention his name. Anyone who attends a terreiro, has a religious family in candomblé or simply watched a news report has this material stored away.

The personal moment gives it shape. After weeks of fighting at home, pressure at work or grief, it is common to dream of calm images, as if the mind were looking for the opposite of what it is living. A white garment on the clothesline, an old man who speaks softly or a white dove can take on the name of Oxalá when you remember the dream.

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

Oxalá between psychoanalysis, Jung and faith

In Freud's psychoanalysis. Freud did not write about orixás, but in The Interpretation of Dreams he recalls that the ancient belief in dreams sent by the gods to guide humankind formed a complete theory. Science begins when we ask where each piece of the scene comes from. His method asks you to look at the detail (the staff, the white cloth, the words spoken) and ask what each one brings to mind.

In Jung's psychology. Man and His Symbols describes the compensatory function of dreams: they tend to bring in what is missing from conscious life in order to restore balance. In the Jungian key, a figure of peace and silence in a period of turmoil can be read this way, as a counterweight, a psychological reading that does not replace the religious one.

In symbols and faith. In the orixá myths collected by Reginaldo Prandi in Mitologia dos orixás, Oxalá appears as the orixá in charge of creation, and one of the myths tells that he shaped human beings out of clay given to him by Nanã. Tradition honors him in two forms: Oxalufã, the old man who walks bent over his staff, and Oxaguiã, the young warrior. In Bahia, historical syncretism brought him close to the Senhor do Bonfim (Our Lord of the Good End) and, more broadly, to Jesus Christ, a link born in the colonial period, when African religions were repressed. In A Dictionary of Symbols, Chevalier and Gheerbrant treat white as a color of passage and purity, present in rites across many cultures.

Bringing both readings together. Science shows how the calm you long for and the images you have seen become a scene. Faith, for those who have it, welcomes that scene as a presence. Both look at the same wish for peace.

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

Common scenes in dreams about Oxalá

If the bird stood out most, read dreaming about pigeons; if it was the clothes, dreaming about clothes. When Oxalá appears alongside other orixás, it is worth reading dreaming about Iemanjá, dreaming about Oxum or dreaming about Xangô.

See also: Dreaming about Nanã Buruquê and Dreaming about someone you haven't seen in years.

Oxalá in dream books

O Livro dos Sonhos, a Brazilian dream book by L. P. Baçan, has no entry for Oxalá. Through syncretism, the closest one is Jesus: in life, comfort; in love, sincerity. The entry for dove speaks of peace in life and happiness in love. This is folk tradition, not prediction.

Jung saw the symbol as something alive, which changes with the story of the person who dreamed. A table of meanings cannot know whether the white in your dream recalls a celebration at the terreiro, your New Year's Eve clothes or a hospital sheet.

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

When the dream calls for care

Dreaming about Oxalá is usually peaceful. Sometimes, though, the scene of peace comes during a period of illness, grief or loneliness, and the contrast on waking hurts. If the dream turns into a recurring nightmare, if you become afraid of going to sleep or if sadness takes over your days, talk to a health professional: frequent nightmares can be treated. See how to have fewer nightmares. If you are in intense distress, in the US you can call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline).

It is also worth remembering that linking the orixás to something bad is the legacy of a historical prejudice against religions of African origin. If the dream frightened you because of that, the article about Exu explains where this confusion comes from.

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

What folk tradition says about dreaming of Oxalá

Among practitioners and sympathizers, dreaming about Oxalá is often read as a blessing of peace, a call for patience or an invitation to wear white and slow down. The old man with the staff would be advice to act calmly; the young warrior, strength to begin something new; clean water, renewal. Many followers say the dream asks for attention to the promises you make and to harmony at home. Each house of worship has its own reading, and those who seek religious guidance usually turn to their own spiritual leaders. These are interpretations from tradition, not predictions. See what dream meanings look like according to science and culture.