Water
Water is one of the more complex symbols, but generally, it refers to the water of life, the medium that regenerates.
To understand the symbolism of water in dreams, we must particularly note the context. Is it a glass of water, a sea, a well, or a toilet overflowing? The interpretation is always dependent on the context, and unexpected details are crucial. That said, water in all its forms is one of the most common images for the unconscious (Mysterium Coniunctionis, par. 364), and the sea represents the collective unconscious, while moving water indicates "the stream of life" or potential energy (Practice of Psychotherapy, par. 15). Many creation stories describe how the earth (consciousness) rises from the sea; consciousness is, so to speak, the creation of the world.
Being submerged in water and coming out of it anew is an archetypal image for dissolving the old with the possibility of renewal, for example, of outdated attitudes and/or to a higher level of consciousness.
Water, the Sea, and the Unconscious
Water, especially the sea, has a feminine, maternal quality and represents the unconscious as such, both in its positive and negative aspects; water can both give life and take life. (See also Drowning.) von Franz mentions in this context that, on one hand, the Christian baptismal font is often compared to "Mother Church's" womb, "and thus has a maternal aspect" – "one is reborn in the eternal womb, which is the water"; on the other hand, there is an analogy between water and the unconscious (Redemption Motifs, p. 24).
Jung writes that we know "that alchemy's mare nostrum (our sea) is a symbol of the unconscious in general, just as in empirical dream symbolism" (Aion, par. 219). Water – the blue sea, four rivers, holy water, etc. – in dreams is an expression of the Self.
The unconscious, as something dangerous, returns in the alchemists' analogy to the sea, as something bitter (see Salt), unreliable, corrupted, the dwelling place or origin of all creatures/monsters (Midgard Serpent, Leviathan, etc.), the original chaos, etc.; the Church Fathers referred to the sea as "the abyss," associating it with hell, primal chaos, and so on. This illustrates that a naive view of the unconscious may be inappropriate.
The sea and lakes are therefore a symbol for unconsciousness. You can't see very far in the water; you don't know what lurks down there, and under the water, you are in the hands of nature’s forces. (Compare Forest.) A flood may indicate that the unconscious content is overwhelming, overflowing into the conscious mind.
The Shore
The shore denotes the boundary between consciousness and the unconscious.
Smaller Gatherings of Water
The sea suggests the collective unconscious; but water in smaller gatherings, like small lakes, lagoons, and the like, reflects the personal unconscious. The formation of a lagoon may indicate the beginning of the individuation process.
Pools and basins suggest a higher level of consciousness because they are human-made. A pool should be understood as a personality circumstance rather than an archetypal situation.
A puddle or similar smaller collections of stagnant water likely signify psychological stagnation – nothing happens, there is no energy, no direction.
Energy
If water flows out of a pipe, for example, it could mean that the dreamer is drained of energy or that their energy is misdirected (pipes can symbolize the inner energy system we usually don’t think about). If it is drought or if the dream involves stagnant, perhaps murky water, it may reflect inner stagnation. Clear water, such as a stream or smaller pools, is rarely a symbol for the unconscious itself, but perhaps rather a source of life, a boundary, and so on.
Water's power is used to generate energy, both with traditional watermills and in modern waterworks. Water is a symbol for (psychic) energy in dreams. A raging river suggests considerable energy, while a shrinking brook suggests throttled energy. In dreams, this appears, for example, as blockages in pipes or pipes that have sprung a leak.
Magical Water
Water can symbolize spirit or knowledge. Drinking from a certain well brings wisdom, eternal youth, and so on. (See also Consumption.) Both spiritual experience and new knowledge can be experienced as very refreshing.
Since water is associated with the unconscious, the "other," it has been used countless times for divination and magical rituals. It is associated with mirrors and their qualities.
Spiritual Water
Both in the Old and New Testament, water reappears as an image for the true faith and the spiritual richness that comes with it, as in John 4:14:
"But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." (See Psychology and Religion, par. 311ff.)
Variations on this sacred water appear in dreams, Edinger comments (Mysterium Lectures, p. 162), and points out that one should pay attention if strange or unusual water or other fluids appear.
We certainly associate positive qualities with this miraculous liquid, but "spiritual water" can also be ambivalent or even somewhat negative. Several alchemical sources speak of aqua permanens as bitter, undrinkable, and so on. (Mysterium Coniunctionis, par. 341.)
The Moon and Renewal
Since we all live in water before we are born, and the earth we live on, according to myth, rose from the water, water is the origin of all things and associated with birth and rebirth. For example, one baptizes in water (which is a form of rebirth). The sun seems to rise from the sea and sink back into it. The sea is the source of everything.
Water is associated with the moon. The sea's ebb and flow follows the moon's orbit around the earth, and the moon is considered "wet" and gives rise to dew.
Mythologically speaking, the world rises from the sea and sinks back into it, and rises again; just like the moon comes and goes. Consciousness can also be seen as something that rises from the sea of the unconscious, and during sleep sinks back into it, only to rise again in the morning. This origin in water and regular sinking back into it is necessary because human life is fragile and must constantly be reborn. (See also Washing.)
In the water, everything is eternal, but once it rises from the water, it falls prey to time and begins to lose its potential; if it sinks back into the water, it will be reborn. The sun sinks into the sea and is reborn; it dies and is reborn, which reappears in baptism and similar water rituals. On the other hand, water dissolves, and what sinks into it loses its form; so, while water is a symbol for birth, it is also a symbol for death or dissolution. (Patterns in Comparative Religion, p. 212.)
Dissolution and Conjunction
To dissolve or be split (compare Dismemberment) and then be reunited is a symbol for increased consciousness that is central to alchemy. Jung says (Aion, par. 410):
"Consciousness and knowledge (insight) arise through differentiation, that is, through analysis (dissolution) and a subsequent synthesis, something which is expressed symbolically in the alchemical motto Solve et coagula [dissolve and coagulate]."
One can note the double meaning in the word "solution" and its relationship with "dissolution" (which in itself has a double meaning); these illustrate the alchemical solutio's connection to understanding. Edinger comments (Anatomy of the Psyche, p. 76):
“… solutio ‘solves’ psychological problems by transferring the matter to the realm of feeling."
Water makes us release fixations. Solutio, which is "extremely important psychologically," is expressed in dreams by being in water in some form (bathing, showering, rain, etc.) and, according to Edinger, represents a descent into the unconscious that dissolves the ego's fixed, orderly structure. (Mysterium Lectures, p. 54.)
In "Gloria mundi," it is said:
"Life is the mystery of all things, which is water; for water dissolves the body into spirit and summons a spirit from the dead."
Jung comments (Mysterium Coniunctionis, par. 318) that while the chemical counterpart to this is evaporation, etc., the psychological one is the conscious insight into and integration of unconscious content. "The spirit from the dead" is Mercurius, who in the form of anima mundi is latent in all things, whose chemical counterpart is salt (see this), the secret substance.
Waterlogged
Water’s connection to the unconscious reappears in images such as the ground being waterlogged, someone being waterlogged (suffering from edema), or being swollen or bloated – states where the unconscious has, so to speak, overwhelmed the conscious mind. The waterlogged king is a recurring image in alchemy; he must be dried or burned (calcinatio), so that the moisture (the unconscious) leaves the matter (the conscious, separatio), for later rehydration.
Purification
Water washes away sins and undesirable content. One transitions from being "dirty" to "clean." In psychological language, the dirt can represent one's own unconscious shadow, which poisons the surroundings with projections, or, on the other hand, the negative influence of the environment on one's "true self"; this is when Jungian analysis, according to von Franz, can be likened to a bath. (Redemption Motifs, p. 24.)
Regular baths are necessary for spiritual reasons (just as washing is a recurring symbol for "the work"). One emerges from the bath reborn. Going down into water is often the first thing done in mystery cult rituals. Water is therefore a symbol for purification and subsequent transformation; baths in dreams sometimes concern overcoming our problems with the shadow. However, going into the water is not necessarily harmless; there is always a risk of drowning or being swallowed by a monster.
Eros and Fertility
The feminine quality of the lake and the sea is revealed not only in the maternal, but also in longing, love, and desire. The goddess of love, Venus or Aphrodite, was born from the sea, and this seductive quality lingers in sirens and nymphs; they lure men who drown and disappear (dissolve) in the depths – archetypal images that appear in contemporary dreams.
Similar themes appear in the story of the hunter who spied on the bathing Artemis, as well as David and Bathsheba in 2 Samuel – the hero’s dissolution in an erotic encounter with baths and women forms an archetypal theme. The depth of water’s connection to this image also reappears in the expression, and the feeling, of "drowning" in one’s lover's eyes. The dissolving quality of water (solutio) is thus connected to love and lust.
The step from fertility goddesses to Dionysus is not far, and this god was indeed associated with water, moisture, and the sea (alongside phallic fertility and creative qualities). Dionysus is also "the great dissolver."
Moisture
Moisture is the opposite of dryness (just as water is the opposite of fire) and plays a significant role in alchemical work. It is closely related to dew, sweat, vapor, etc.; what is excreted from the material, akin to a process of spiritualization or sublimatio (often involving heating; moisture implies heat or warmth). For alchemists, moisture (humidum radicale) is an active transformative process; they speak of "Mercurius' moisture," a substance extracted from him in the process. "Spirit, in alchemy, is almost invariably related to water or to... moisture." (Alchemical Studies, par. 101.)
Alchemy
Alchemical water was used to dissolve everything, and it was a necessary ingredient in the work to attain the philosopher's stone. The alchemists called it "our water," "living silver," "fiery wine," and so on. It was a living substance that could heal, break down, and transform (aqua permanens, the philosopher's stone in liquid form), but also be poisonous, etc. (See also Vessel and Salt.)
According to the alchemists' understanding of "our water" (aqua nostra), the concepts of water, fire, and spirit merge. Sometimes they say, on the one hand, that "our water is fire" (compare "firewater," wine, and alcohol), and on the other hand, they explicitly state that water and spirit are the same thing. ("Pneuma and water are... synonymous in the alchemists' language," writes Jung in Psychology and Religion, par. 354.) In the Bible, similar images occur where (the Holy) spirit is likened to water, from God's spirit sweeping over the waters in the opening of the Old Testament, to Jesus' words about rebirth (John 3:5): "Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God" (in contrast to one who is born "of flesh"). Jung emphasizes regarding these words that "a contemporary alchemist would have immediately understood what he meant" (Alchemical Studies, par. 136). Finally, the water of baptism is simultaneously God's spirit.