things in hand
Dreaming of key
Read two ways. Let them disagree, the truth often sits between.
Artemidorus · Oneirocritica
Drawn up, it speaks of To receive a key signifies you have been given authority, especially over a household or a small office.
Drawn down, it warns of To lose a key foretells the loss of authority or the breakdown of a trust.
Jungian · the collective unconscious
Drawn up, it speaks of The key is the small specific tool that opens a previously inaccessible aspect of self. Often dreamed at the start of a real insight.
Drawn down, it warns of Losing the key signals the dreamer has misplaced the specific tool of their own integration, usually a practice that has lapsed.
When it appears with another
Key in company
key + door
The classic threshold dream. The specific tool to open the specific way. Whatever you have been trying to access is now reachable; take it.
key + fish
A contents brought up from the depths becomes the tool. Whatever you've been incubating in the unconscious is ready to unlock a real waking situation.
Did you dream this?
Keep it before it fades
Write the dream down in your journal and the cards will name its symbols for you, or have the whole dream read in full.