Pregnancy, Birth

Pregnancy refers to the fact that something has been fertilized and that something new is about to be born – one is pregnant with something that is growing within, and which has the potential to manifest one day. It is usually a positive symbol, but note that it is often only a potential that the dreamer may need to realize consciously for it to be born. What one is pregnant with can be something concrete, external, like a new creative project, or something internal like a psychological change or revelation.

Birth

Birth is a symbol that something new has come to life in the dreamer’s inner world; something with potential that probably has the future ahead of it (cf. Child). The new is fragile and risks being destroyed; the dreamer would do well to nurture it. Tales and legends are filled with newborns in danger, illustrating this archetypal theme.

In particular, during important times in one’s life, dreams where someone is born may evoke the archetypal theme of the hero’s birth. (The Eternal Drama, p. 54.) Here, the birth or “the divine child” can symbolize the awakened drive for individuation, something that still needs to be cared for by consciousness. It is also a very common theme that the newborn hero is immediately abandoned or subjected to immediate danger (Heracles, Moses, Jesus, etc.). Edinger states:

“When the possibility for the development of individuation is born, everything is against it. It is entirely understandable that this particular drive to develop into a unique being, distinct from all others and from conventional norms, cannot expect external support. … It can be opposed by being regarded as worthless. This can be life-threatening, of course, since something that has just been born requires attention and nourishment and is extremely vulnerable to indifference.” (Ibid., pp. 54-55.)

Moment of Fertilization

If one dreams that someone is heavily pregnant, that someone is giving birth, or about a newborn child, something notable may have happened in the dreamer’s life nine months earlier, something that sowed this seed.

Afterbirth

The afterbirth has always had symbolic significance, often as a twin, doppelgänger, guardian angel, and so on. Consequently, it was treated with reverence, often receiving a burial in a special place or being handled under corresponding rituals. (Jung describes, or "amplifies," this symbol in some detail in Visions, pp. 835-7.)

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