How do dreams mean? A Jungian Answer

I went through the Topical Guide to the Scriptures on the topic of Dreams and found the collected references quite insightful.  The scriptures do not give us a dream encyclopedia, just a reminder that the interpretation of dreams is a spiritual gift.

Fascinated by how dreams communicate to us, I have collected some examples (with a little bit of underlying theory) of what people have learned from dreams.

One Jungian theory is that some dreams are "compensatory or complementary."  They "balance a one-sided attitude of consciousness" or "complete what is lacking in the contents of consciousness which are too narrow or are not considered sufficiently valuable."

Some examples of such balancing dreams

1.  "...someone who suffers from feelings insecurity and inferiority and in a dream finds himself in a hero role."
2. "Jung relates the case of a lady who was well known for her stupid prejudices and her stubborn resistance to reasoned argument.  One night she dreamed she was invited to an important social affair.  Her hostess greeted her with the words, 'Oh, how nice you have come!  All your friends are here already and are expecting you.'  The hostess then led her to a door, opened it and the dreamer stepped into - a cowshed!  'The woman would not admit at first the point of a dream that struck so directly at her self-importance, but its message nevertheless went home.'"

"Sometimes a dream...gives advice like a well meaning person."

1. "I had a rich elderly woman analysand who had been alcoholic and had given up drinking.  But the neurotic problems that lay behind her alcoholism, especially a general demoralization and slovenliness, still had to be worked out.  Once she dreamed that a voice told her, 'You need a breakfast corset.'  I asked her in great detail what time she ate breakfast, what kind of corset she wore, when she put it on, etc.  I discovered then that out of vanity she wore a very tight corset but never put it on in the morning; rather she breakfasted in her dressing gown, then dawdled around the apartment in her negligee the rest of the morning and put her corset on around noon.  Only then did her day actually begin.  After this information, the dream no longer needed interpretation, and we both laughed heartily.  I would ask her, 'How is it going with the breakfast corset?'"
2. "I once had an analysand who had to give up alcohol, which he did bravely for a couple of months.  Then he said to me, 'Listen, don't you think I could dare now to have one glass of beer in the evening at the Sternan Hotel with Betty?  Just one glass?  I am always so lost in the evenings, so lonely.'  Although I knew this was not advisable, I just said, 'I don't know, I don't want to be your governess.  Try it and we will see how your unconscious reacts.'  He did this, drank his glass of beer, and went home.  That night he dreamed of driving his car up a mountain, all the way to the top, but when he got there he did not brake properly and the car rolled backward all the way down the mountain until he was back where he started....He immediately realized that 'only one glass of beer' would not work."

Quotes from
Marie-Louise Von Franz
Dreams