Ian Wallace Interpretation:
Dream: You are going about your everyday business when suddenly the ground starts to shake and cracks begin to appear in it. Roads are crumpling up, buildings are falling down and you are trying to escape the earthquake and get yourself and others to a place of safety. Volcanoes pouring molten lava out onto the streets, setting fire to all it touches, often accompany the earthquake. Everything around you is in complete upheaval and it may feel like the world is ending. There seems to be absolutely nothing you can do about it as you can only watch the events unfolding.
Meaning: When you dream of an earthquake or an eruption, there is usually some huge personal upheaval occurring in your life, which is really shaking you up. In waking life, you use the ground as a constant reference that you can always rely on for stability and support. Earthquakes occur, however, when two apparently stable areas become subject to great tension and stress. This can often happen when one area of your life is beginning to severely impact another area. It may be that your work life has started to affect your home life and this is causing a lot of unspoken friction for you. Like earthquakes, these hidden tensions can reach a sudden breaking point where everyone and everything around you seems at fault. Volcanoes are common in earthquake dreams and reflect how your hidden stresses can cause you to erupt in rage. Although you have been trying to contain your mounting anger, you find yourself losing your head and blowing your top. Your pent-up fury and frustration come spilling out like a bubbling and spitting stream of molten lava and there seems to be absolutely nothing that you can do about it. Giving vent to your anger and frustration might seem destructive but it can also be a great source of creative energy if you can channel it properly. Rather than letting hidden stresses build up uncontrollably, try letting off steam by directing your energy into activities that really move you.
Action: To move on from this dream, it is best if you can find some way of releasing these feelings of frustration, which are bubbling away under the surface of your calm exterior. The most powerful way of channelling your emotions is just to express what you are feeling. There are probably some major stresses that really make you overheat, but it is best to start on some smaller issues and establish a channel for honest communication. You don’t have to scream and shout, instead just calmly assert yourself, giving voice to your true feelings, until you feel your needs really are being met.
Background: Although we may never personally experience an earthquake or a volcanic eruption, they are regular occurrences that are reported in the media and have mythological status in apocalyptic movies. These outer topographic events reflect a major change in our inner landscapes and the positions we hold. Much of our language concerning major personal change and the release of frustrations is based on fundamental reshaping of the landscape and the release of what usually lies under the surface. We speak of our ‘world being rocked’, ‘an earthshaking experience’, or someone ‘blowing their top’.