Cactus dream meaning

I always think that a cactus in a dream is a bit like armour. Something in you, or someone near you, has grown spikes because it got tired of being hurt. Seeing one in a dream means that you have perhaps been protecting yourself to some degree.

If you are the cactus: you've built a defence so good that nothing gets in, including the things you want. You're storing water in a dry patch of your life and calling it strength. It is strength, but it's also a very lonely way to live. Nobody cuddles a cactus. If someone else is the cactus: there's a person in your life whose prickliness maybe a bit off. The dream is asking why you keep reaching for them and expecting a different result.

In my view:

• Being pricked or spiked: someone has said something to you that hurt your feelings.
• A cactus in flower: the most hopeful dream. Something hard and dry in you is about to bloom, and the bloom is brief, so pay attention.
• A dead or rotting cactus: sometimes we can over-fix, over-feed a situation.
• A huge desert cactus: this is about keeping going.
• Cactus in your house or bed: boundaries need to be kept up.
• Eating or cutting into one: You have more inside than you think.
• Cactus in the desert in a dream: I like to think that this means endurance.
• Dead cactus: Cacti die from too much care, not too little. Ask what you're over-fixing, over-feeding or smothering when it only needed leaving alone.
• Being given one: someone is telling you, kindly or not, that you're prickly. Giving one: you're handing over something you know is difficult to hold. Either way, look at the relationship, not the plant.

In my view, this dream is about protecting yourself, and whether the protection is still doing its job or has become the problem.

What does it mean to dream of a cactus?

It means something is protected. Either you've grown spikes because you're tired of being hurt, or someone near you has. The dream wants to know which, and whether the armour is still protecting you or has become the whole problem.

Is a cactus dream good or bad?

I can't say yes to either to be honest. A cactus survives where nothing else does, so there's resilience in it. But it survives by making itself impossible to touch, so there's loneliness in it too. Which one you feel on waking tells you what the dream is about.

What does it mean to be pricked by a cactus in a dream?

I often find these sorts of dreams when one has been hurt recently. There is something hard and focused in you, or in your life, is about to bloom. Seeing cactus flowers mean you should not just sit there waiting for a better moment. This is the moment.

What does it mean to dream of a cactus in your home?

This is about boundaries, and they have crept in. Who are you sharing a room with that you can't relax around? Or is the cactus you? Nobody sleeps well next to a cactus, including the cactus.