Dreams about rats can be somewhat difficult to interpret because we humans tend to project a lot of negativity onto them. To say, categorically, that rats in dreams indicate greed, mistrust, and thievery is too reductive. Rats in dreams can also embody positive traits. For example, they are brilliant little creatures who can learn faster than some humans. Rats are also extremely empathic animals. When given a choice between their favorite treat or helping a fellow-rat out of distress, the rat will choose helping his friend. In addition, rats also symbolize persistence, resistance, and willful determination, as well extraordinary adaptability to virtually any life circumstance.
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In order to discover the meaning of your dreams about rats, you have to consider all of the characteristics of rats. This includes not only looking at a rat’s biology, but also looking at the rat’s place in mythology and culture.
Next, take into account your personal associations to rats. Do they disgust you? If so, why? Maybe you like rats. This associative element is KEY to analyzing and interpreting dreams about rats. Rats in dreams will different meanings for different people.
As a last word before we begin to look more closely at rats in dreams, please try to let go of your moralistic judgments about rats. Just take note of how you feel about each of the rat’s traits. Keep your mind open to discovering new meaning about rat dreams. Even if rats in dreams are pointing to some less-than savory side about yourself, it is an opportunity to consciously face some shadow aspect of yourself.
The set and setting of your dream is an important part of the rat dream analysis. Where are you and what is going on in the dream? The initial setting makes a statement about the aspect of your psyche to which the dream refers. For example, if you are in your home in the dream, then the dream is making a statement about your entire approach to life: your attitude, your relationships, or your current way of life.
If you are at your job and you see rats in your dream, then the dream is making a statement about how you work or your place in the collective or society.
People can even dream of rats in their cars. In that case, then the rat would have something to do with the driving forces in your life, something we looked at in the post on Dreams About Cars.
This post was actually inspired by a question I received from a Quora member. Let’s use that dream imagery as our starting point for discussing dreams about rats. This short dream is packed with rich symbolism.
This is brutal imagery, but the dream really makes a good point about rats – and it’s probably something we already know about them: RATS ARE STEADFAST SURVIVORS!
That this child emerges from the rat is an indication that something in the woman needs to be redeemed. By redeemed, I mean that she must bring something from a state of unconsciousness into consciousness. It is some part of herself that she has lost, rejected, or despised, something which is implied in her initial reaction of fear and disgust to the rat.
Why does her dream ego initially try to kill this part of herself? Every choice we make at the expense of another, in some sense, kills a part of who we could have become.
The beating we see in this dream is an image for what we do to ourselves. But her dream self realizes it, suddenly feels guilty, and then she stops. It is as if the dream ego has accepted something about herself.
This woman’s work will be to find out what that rat is for her. Only then will that rat energy transform into something human, symbolized by the baby.
However, before that transformation can occur, she must integrate rat energy. So, let’s have a look at how we can integrate the energy of rats in dreams.
Rats can squeeze themselves through the tiniest of openings. What they can’t squeeze themselves through, they will chew through. Their incisal power is beyond compare when it comes to their relative size. A rat can chew through wood, plastic, PVC, brick, concrete, and even lead!
We can look at these traits in two ways. The first is the most natural response to rats: they can be an almost unbearable nuisance for us humans. And the second way to look at rats is in terms of their virtual indomitability. We’ll explore those two ways of looking at rats throughout this post.
If you have dreams about rats, you can ask yourself some questions:
Whenever you have an aim in your life, how persistent are you?
Do you give up too easily?
You’ll have to reflect on whatever is happening in your life at the time of the dream. This aim could be anything from your personal transformation to simply cleaning out your garage.
Whenever we avoid or resist the things that we know we should be doing in our lives, the rats in our heads will not let us rest. We are constantly pestered by nagging thoughts, vague feelings of guilt, or some other obsessive thought form which penetrates every possible psychic opening.
What can you learn from a rat’s extraordinary adaptability?
When we translate that into psychological terms, it looks something like this: How well do you adapt to life’s sudden changes? Think psychologically here.
There are so many facets to the rat’s survivability, but here are just a few of their survival skills:
I see their incisal power as an ability to chew though any obstacle in life. How well do you push through life’s obstacles?
Thermoregulation, I see as psychological regulation. When things get heated, can you stay cool? When things get too cold, can you add some fire to life?
Their collapsible rib cage makes them flexible. How flexible are you?
Can you fit yourself through the smallest windows of opportunity or do you just say, “I can’t” and then give up?
Can you see an opening in even the smallest of spaces or do you give up? Think of collapsible rib cage as letting go of a self-limited mindset. Be flexible!
Again, think psychologically here. When life turns one way, can you move with it or do you fight against it?
How well do you survive your falls?
In one hand, rats can symbolize all of those unseen psychic forces that invade our conscious life: anxiety, fear, worry, or obsessions. As I wrote in an article on Anxiety and Depression, these are symptoms of an underlying problem and not the problems themselves. And on the other hand, rats can symbolize the very energy we need in order to overcome those unseen forces that slip into our minds. That is the paradox of symbolism: at the core of every symptom is its healing opposite.
Now, what we need to do is consider rat traits symbolically and then explore what those traits might mean psychologically. That’s how we analyze and interpret our dreams about rats. After that, we’ll look at how different cultures see rats. Rats are not unconditionally despised, for example both China and India have profound respect for rats.
I once watched my large cat go up against a miniature rat. It was like the proverbial Mexican Standoff between those two, each one staring the other down.
That little rat actually made the first move. It jumped onto my cat’s face, bit down, and hung on for dear life. My cat freaked out and started running around like crazy, all the time with that rat hanging from his face. When the rat finally let go of him, my cat ran away from it.
My point is that part of their resistance comes from their sheer willingness to take on whatever comes at them – no matter how big it is.
So, if you have dreams about rats, take this kind of courage into consideration. Perhaps you need to embody some of this rat courage in your life.
Resistance is the ability to withstand the attack of pathogens. Pathogens are disease-causing agents, which includes something such as poison.
Rats have another way of being “poison resistant”. A rat will actually test out any food before consuming the whole thing. If it makes them feel sick, then they won’t finish it.
So, here the question for you is:
Can you recognize psychological poison when it enters your system? How often do you get yourself into toxic relationships? How quickly will you pull out of a toxic situation once you recognize that it is bad for you?
The resistance also goes for trapping rats. If one rat gets trapped, it will send out stress signals to its mischief (a group of rats), who then know to avoid the trap.
Do you recognize a psychological trap when you see it? Sometimes we entrap ourselves by getting caught up in negative thought or emotional patterns. The spinning round in our heads of obsessive thoughts or the replaying of painful narratives – those are the psychological rat traps that keep us down.
In this kind of obsessive pattern, perhaps we see the negative quality of the rat, with its uncanny power to penetrate even the most rat-proofed openings. Rats scurrying above your head or in the walls – especially in the middle of the night – can drive you crazy! And, so too can all of those thoughts and emotions that I just mentioned.
Stay with me on this cross-cultural examination of rats because you’ll see some interesting connections to our rat dream example.
If you have ever been to a Chinese restaurant, then you probably know your Chinese zodiac animal. The rat is the first of all of the Chinese zodiac animals. According to one story, the Jade Emperor – a representation of the first Chinese god – said that the order of the zodiac would be arranged according to the order in which the animals arrived at his party.
The rat tricked the ox into giving him a ride and just as they arrived, the rat jumped off the ox and landed before him. People born in the year of the Rat are described as clever, quick-thinking, and successful. However, we can’t simply take this description at face-value, for the shadow side of these traits would be using them to be deceitful.
In relation to Yin and Yang (feminine/dark and masculine/light), the rat’s energy is Yang and represents the beginning of a new day. Now, think of this association in relation to our dream example: new day, baby, new beginnings.
In Chinese culture, rats were seen as a sign of wealth and surplus. So, not everyone sees rats as greedy thieves. As I said before, your dreams about rats are speaking to something specific in your life.
Because rats are so prolific, in China married couples prayed to rats for children.
In terms of their personality traits, people born in the year of the rat are:
On the financial side, they like saving and can be stingy. However, their love for hoarding will sometimes cause them to waste money on unnecessary things.
Men born in the Rat year are clever and adapt quickly to new environments. They are creative great at taking advantage of opportunities. However, they sometimes lack the courage to do so. Although they have great ideas, they might not be suitable for leadership positions.
Women born in the Rat year are the traditional women. They love keeping things organized and place great value on the family. Everything is taken care of by them and there is no need for their husband to worry. Outside of home, they’re also someone with a sense of responsibility and ability.
I know of at least two sacred rats in the mythology and symbolism of India: the sacred rats of the goddess Karni Mata and the rat companion, Mūṣakavāhana, of the elephant god Ganesha.
First the brief story of Karni Mata. Karni Mata was an incarnation of the goddess Durga, who rid the world of a terrible buffalo demon named Mahishasura. In Indian mythology, the demons who take over the world are symbols of our own ignorance, which we experience as various forms of suffering.
Read symbolically, Durga symbolizes the power to overcome the earth-bound forces of ignorance and the chaos that it causes. In psychological terms, Durga is an archetypal mother figure who can empower us to transcend our darkest fears – real fears that come to us in the night, such as hopelessness, self-doubt, self-loathing, guilt and shame.
Karni Mata was one of Durga’s forms on earth. One day her son died in a drowning accident. When the Lord of Death, Yama, refused her request to bring him back to life, she became the goddess Durga and did the job herself. As Durga, she also gave her clan the gift of eternal life, but through the curious method of transforming from human to rat and rat to human.
Now, this story may seem out of place to some readers, but can anyone see the relationship between this story and our example dream? The rat in this story becomes a human, just like the one in our dream.
Who would imagine that a lowly rat could symbolize something as profound as transformation and rebirth?
This whole concept of rebirth and reincarnation is related to our own ability to become reborn in this life: it is symbolic of our ability rise out of lowly states into higher forms of consciousness. I went deep into this symbolism in the post on the symbolism of the snake and serpent.
The vehicle-companions of the gods always embody the same attributes as the god. In terms of removing obstacles, we’ve already talked about the rat’s ability to break through any barrier. But the rat has other talents as well, as Heinrich Zimmer points out in his book, The Art of Indian Asia:
[T]he rat is no less marvelous than the elephant as a finder and maker of the way. It has a peculiar talent for entering buildings — homes, larders, and granaries— and is wonderfully successful in overcoming whatever defenses men can put in its path.Ganesa, therefore, as the Lord of Obstacles, combines the animal features of the elephant and the rat. His irresistible force, progressing toward and attaining the goal. The rat goes ahead like an elephant through jungle or like a rat into the most carefully protected larder.
The two represent the power of this god to vanquish every obstacle of the Way.
Again, we meet with this idea of the rat’s incredible ability to attain the goal. But, as I said earlier, if we resist taking action, then the rat will steal our life force.
Again, I ask you to think in symbolic terms. Whenever we suffer from anxiety or depression, we can say the rat has stolen our energy. In my experience, anxiety and depression are symptoms of our inability to act.
Yes, in a sense the rat steals and robs from the food supplies. Translated psychologically, the rat steals our psychic energy. But keep in mind that rats are also hoarders, meaning that it also stashes that same energy. We only need to access it, first through consciousness and second through action.
Ultimately, if we get to the meaning of rats in dreams, then we receive the boon-bestowing qualities of the elephant-rat duo.
So, there you have it. I hope you picked up something new about rats in dreams, and maybe, even about rats in general. Always remember that your dreams want to show something that you don’t know. Keep an open mind. Research your dream symbols. Keep a dream journal.
Rat Genius from Chuck Walter on Vimeo.
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Hello,
I have always respected rats and hate the idea of harming any creature. I had a bizarre dream last night that a rat attacked me, it jumped on my face from our of nowhere and I managed to get it off my face then it grabbed onto my hand and started biting down on that. Surprisingly enough, even though I was shocked I protected the rat; I carefully pulled it off, gave it a little fuss and hid it / let it run under a fridge!! I always get extremely weird and vivid dreams and I would very much appreciate your comments on this.
Thank you
Hi Zoe, I cannot comment on the personal meaning of your dream because I know nothing about your conscious situation. Go back through the post and really follow the leads I give you there. Look at the possible meanings and then apply those to your current life. 🙏
Hi, I stumbled across this this morning because my dream felt so bizarre I'm I'm sure fresh eyes can puzzle it together because I cannot make sense of it !
OK, so I was at a swimming pool that I do not recognise at all but I was with my elder sister.
We noticed a tiny kitten that was walking past and we said how cute but young it was, then on closer inspection it was really flea ridden, I said to my sister we need to get it to a vet, then behind it came a rat in the same scenario. They both seemed quite sick, so my sister went on ahead and I caught her up, at the busy vets an ex from over 10 years ago wife was working there (he cheated on me this with lady and they are still together) She was very stand offish with me but I treated her like I treat everybody- with kindness! It really doesn't affect me in life but it must be relevant somewhere. Anyway, both animals had been treated but were both put in the same box which I thought odd as surely a cat would attack. We went back to my mother's and the rat was healing so I took it round to see my Grandmother round the corner but all I had was a carrier bag which I had put the rat in with sawdust, hay and made it as a nice as I could. The rat kept trying to escape from the bag, I realised it was well and determined to escape although it was black and white and seemed a domestic pet I let it out the bag to make its own choice , I remember the tail not being "normal" and like bunched up like a piece of playdoh - I know this doesn't make sense! Then I was with my sons school teacher and family and the world was being attacked by bizarre bat looking things that were going to mutate, I was no where I recognise. I had a quick look up but all I saw was about a possible disease as to why I dreamt about rats and given that is my biggest fear in life I've put this out there hoping there is another meaning! Any help appreciated x
This was a WONDERFUL post! So informative and eye-opening! Read so many articles prior to this and they were laden with judgement and criticism of the rat! Your explanations and digging deep were so beautifully intuitive and spiritually healing! Thank you!
I am so happy to hear that you have appreciated it. Rats are amazing beings....
I had a wonderfully powerful dream with the mighty rat.
I’ll start off by saying I miss my rats dearly, they were amazingly empathetic and smart.
It was a shorter dream, but I am drained. I am well versed in lucid dreaming, but this one I was *trying* to give up power.
I was in a school type setting and the masculine friend I had with me morphed into a feminine type cat creature and I told him I accepted him even if he turned into some kind of hedgehog.
He then asked me if I had that power, and I said “how do you know if you are an animal?”
And we went to a room full of kids that were like him.
They were all really kind and had me meditate and really accept any energies that were coming forward and to “zone out” and let the change happen. Right before I woke up, I opened my eyes in my dream, and was very little with the teacher girl standing above me reassuring me as I got very nervous when I realized I turned into a rat. I was shocked at the whole transformation, but her standing above me saying “shhhh it’s okay!” And “awwhh! ?” I saw my front paws hangin there like little rats do when they are on their hind legs. I was in my back.
Then, my daughter abruptly woke me up before I could REALLY confirm if I was a rat, but I could just “feel” that’s what I was. (Hampster) also went through my mind too ?
Anyway, I’ve gotten a lot of information from this article and I am very tired, but content with its messages ❤️
I have been focusing on prayer and being open to signs from Spirit more recently. I have been asking for guidance and direction in my life...how to better know my life's purpose, how I can be of service to others. The last three nights I have woken up during the night with vivid dreams. The first two dreams, I could interpret more clearly. But I have not yet been able to interpret my dream about rats last night. I was spending the night with my young daughter in the vacant old two story farmhouse of my beloved aunt in Maine. The bedrooms are all upstairs but when I opened the door at the top of the staircase I saw the floor swarming with rats. I quickly shut the door and hurried down the stairs. My daughter and I had nowhere else to stay for the night, so we arranged a place to sleep downstairs. But we could hear the rats screaming upstairs through the night. Very unsettling dream.
In my dream I am holding a leash with a small brown rat at the end, accompanied by an Indian Sikh. The rat belongs to him, and the rat is always ahead of us, leading us into various buildings. These buildings are shops, selling produce and Indian spices. At one point, we are going up some cement stairs and there is a corner hole in the stairs. The rat starts to go into the hole, and disappears except for its tail. I'm amazed by how the rat can squeeze into the hole. The Sikh picks up the rat by its tail and puts it back on the stairs. Then the dream ends.
In my dream, I opened a cabinet it’s dark and I saw tiny multiple red eyes and then they started hovering over me and biting me, i was trying to run, It felt like real feeling the tiny bite pains, then I suddenly knew I’m in a dream and forced forced myself to wake up.then I went back to sleep and I saw hairy big huggable dogs but dreary and dull, lying in and standing in poddle of water. Would you help me understand this dream it’s the first one I had about rats.
Hi,
This rat dream is at the end of a dream I've summarised at bottom of this post.
Back up the top of the suburb,, where my earlier descent in the car had started, I am for a while, standing with my brother who has gone AWOL - he has cut himself off from me and had from my parents before they died too ) The rain has stopped.
Then I am inside and standing with at least one other person in a white wooden room, in the house I started from. There are two rats on a white enamel plate. They have been in the freezer, There are two candles in the plates, and one candle has burnt down, so it is heating one of the rats and may be responsible for a smell I think I can detect. But it is not clear, and I only discover the second candle by looking over the rim of the plate to see what the smell might be. The dead rat that is closest to this candle is a little indistinct to look at as the freezer, and the way it is lying, has slightly misshapen and distorted it.
The earlier part of the dream: Descending a narrow, steep road, lined with cars (nowhere to stop, no where to pull over if cars came the other way) from a rich, desolate suburb, in the dream the suburb is all white, and the car too. I don't like, through pouring rain, in a car owned by an ex girlfriend of mine (who could be very selfish and wilful) - with brakes that don't work (though I feel it's simply that I'm not capable or strong enough to get the brakes to work) . I get down the hill OK (passed at one point by 5 hoodlums in a cheap hatchback, back open, laundry inside, they're able to speed and steer freely, unlike me who has had to struggle with the brakes).
Hi,
I dreamed I was in an old hotel and had just gotten there. I was looking out the window and I saw a whole bunch of medium sized grey rats starting to fall from the top of the building. They were caught in the middle of the double hung windows. I quickly went to them to ensure the windows were properly closed and locked so they couldn’t get out. There was another window where there was one. I was more concerned with the one that had the 4 rats caught in between the window panes. After a while passed I saw they were getting tired of trying to get out and just laying there looking sad. The windows fogged up a bit. Then I saw one rat helping push another rat up to try to squeeze through the top but couldn’t quite manage it. I’m not sure what I did but I looked away and when I looked back, they were all gone. Please help me understand this!
Hey, I had an interesting dream in my sleep last night. I think I have a clear understanding of what it means but maybe I can get a second opinion. In my dream I was in an not so well lit underground place, a bit gritty, wasn’t very clear, but whilst in the place I was surround by hoards of rats that were running away from me, or coming out of me. During this time in the dream I dealt a little uncomfortable and surprised, but at the same time I felt relieved.
I’d be interested in what you interpretation of this is...
Christopher, as I say in the posts, without knowing your associations and conscious attitude, there's nothing I can work with.
I had a dream I went to my car to get something from it I believe. I opened the door and leaned in the front and looked into the back seat area and saw one large grey rat poke out from the seat. It showed itself then turned around and squeezed itself back into the seat and disappeared. In the dream I thought oh great another problem I have to deal with and if you see one there's probably more.
Right now i am happy in the area I live but the place is too small. I rent from my sister and she is very close by and this is nice but I'm torn as to whether I should buy a bigger place somewhere else.
Hi Gwen, I don't this dream about where you live or your decision about whether you should move. A dream about that problem would be clearly about "where you live". Go read the post on "Dreams About Cars", then see if you can bring the two symbols of the car and rat together.