What Does It Mean to Dream of a Planet?

People approach space and the planets that populate it from different perspectives. Some want pure science, while others enjoy science fiction.

Some assign the symbolic language of astrology to the movement of the planets. Others don’t spend much time thinking about space and planets at all – even though we all live on planet Earth.

The interpretation of planets in your dream can borrow from many of these approaches.

Planet Dream Symbolism

Unity

If your dream emphasizes our planet, Earth, it could symbolize a desire for unity among the people of Earth. The people of Earth are divided into many nations, ethnicities, and religions, and these divisions often lead to conflict. From space, though, we are all one planet.

Some people, however, have anxiety about the possibility of a “One World Government” that becomes too powerful for its own good. If you have fears of this sort, dreaming of planet Earth could symbolize your concerns about a giant governing body ordering you around.

Health and Responsibility

A dream that emphasizes the planet Earth could symbolize concerns about the condition of Earth in regards to issues like climate change and pollution. The health of the Earth can impact the health of individuals living on it, so this dream could symbolize that you wonder if climate change or pollution contributes to a medical issue that you personally have.

A dream emphasizing planet Earth could also refer to responsibility. The 1990s animated TV series Captain Planet and the Planeteers focused on being responsible for taking care of Earth.

Alternately, dreaming of a planet could refer to the idea that you have the weight of the world on your shoulders. You may feel responsible for all sorts of things, whether or not they are really your responsibility.

Understanding Different Perspectives

If someone asks you, “What planet are you on?,” this might mean they think you are out of touch with reality, according to the Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. The backhanded compliment hidden in this comment is the assumption that, on another planet where things run differently, whatever you did or said that looked strange here might actually make sense.

If you feel misunderstood all the time no matter what you do, you might wonder if you are on the wrong planet. That might be a stretch, but dreaming of planets could symbolize that you do need to look for a community that is a better fit for you.

Resources

Earth has the material resources necessary to support human life, and so far other planets have not met that qualification. If you dream of being on a planet that does not have the resources required for humans to live, this could symbolize that you are in an environment that does not meet your needs.

Earth’s resources are not infinite, though, so a dream about planet Earth could refer to concerns you have about the quantity or quality of Earth’s resources.

Autonomy

When Earth was less populated, there used to be more empty land where people could go if they wanted freedom to get a fresh start far away from others. In the distant past when Earth was thought to be flat rather than a sphere, how could explorers ever know when they had found the limit?

Now, though, every bit of land on Earth is cataloged as being owned and governed by one country or another, so you can’t really do that anymore.

Dreaming of exploring another planet could therefore symbolize that you are looking for an environment that would give you more autonomy than you feel you could get anywhere on Earth at this point. You might like total freedom to build a new society exactly to your specifications rather than fight with your existing society to reform each detail one by one.

More broadly, a dream of exploring or settling on a new planet could symbolize one of the bigger dilemmas of the creative process – is it better to incorporate elements of an existing structure or to start over with a new structure entirely? Your dream of being on a new planet would show you the pros and cons of starting from scratch.

Movement

The word “planet” comes from the Greek word for “wanderer,” as reported by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. This is because the ancient Greeks could tell that the planets were moving in relation to the stars.

Dreaming of planets moving along their predictable paths could symbolize your awareness of recurring cycles in your life. Another way to interpret a dream of planets orbiting the Sun could be that it is symbolic of a social dynamic where one dominant person has managed to get everyone else in the group revolving around their whims.

Common Planet Dreams

Dream about planets aligning

The 1969 pop song “Medley: Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures)” by The 5^th Dimension famously begins with a description of planets aligning:

When the Moon is in the seventh house

And Jupiter aligns with Mars

Then peace will guide the planets

And love will steer the stars

Real astrology is a little more complicated than this pop song makes it sound. There are different ways that “Jupiter aligns with Mars” could be interpreted, but, even under the narrowest interpretation, that takes place no less than once every 2.24 years.

The Moon passes through the seventh house once a day. The boundaries of the Age of Aquarius are contested, but most astrologers think it is still not here. For additional information on the basics of astrology, see Astro.com.

From an astrological perspective, however, it is true that there regularly are planetary alignments that can be favorable for different types of action depending on the planets involved. Some experienced astrologers have detailed dreams about their knowledge just like people of any other profession can have dreams involving their work.

If you are not a serious astrologer, dreaming of a planetary alignment can simply symbolize that the time is finally right for you to move forward toward your goals. Maybe you felt blocked in some course of action no matter what you did, and you just had to wait for the stars to align.

Dream of a specific planet

If your dream references a specific planet other than Earth, you might look at the symbolism of that planet. You might think you don’t know much about that if you are not an experienced astrologer, but you probably have picked up more than you realize in popular culture.

For instance, the book Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus: The Classic Guide to Understanding the Opposite Sex by John Gray is known for addressing romantic relationships. The Mars and Venus symbols are often used to represent men and women respectively.

Dream about Mars or Venus

If you have a dream involving Mars and/or Venus, it could therefore symbolize that sexual energy is important in your life at this time.

Dream about Jupiter

Jupiter is known for being the biggest planet, so dreaming of Jupiter could symbolize that something in your life has gotten really big, perhaps inflated beyond what it really warrants.

Dream about Saturn or Mercury

Two common astrological phenomena that people who are not astrologers have sometimes heard of are Mercury retrogrades and Saturn returns. Dreams of Mercury or Saturn could therefore reference these events.

Mercury retrogrades happen for about three weeks three or four times a year, and they are commonly associated with communications and electronics not working as planned. A Saturn return is a coming-of-age cycle that happens every 29.4 years in your life, and the first Saturn return that happens in early adulthood is especially well known.

Dream about space travel

A dream of any form of travel that is not routine for you could symbolize a desire to get out and see the world, as noted in What Does It Mean to Dream of a Boat? To dream of space travel specifically, though, wow, you really want to get away.

Space can be a lonely place, so to dream of space can symbolize that you feel isolated and misunderstood in your waking life.

Space lacks a lot of the boundaries we are used to here on Earth, so a dream of space travel could also symbolize a desire to transcend boundaries that you experience as unhelpful limitations. Exhilarating imagery like a dream of a star flying through space would support this interpretation.

The realities of space travel with current technology are not comfortable. Business Insider reports on astronauts’ toilet options that make airplane bathrooms look like opulent spas.

Your dreams, however, might be influenced by portrayals of space travel in science fiction movies and TV shows where the difficulties have already been worked out. In those scenarios, the technology available may extend far beyond mere space travel into time travel and more.

There are some contexts where a time travel dream might be about dealing with a specific situation in the past – more historical fiction than science fiction. A time travel dream meaning in the context of space travel, however, probably speaks more to a desire to be totally unlimited.

Dream of an unfamiliar planet

If you dream of winding up on an unfamiliar planet, you have the opportunity to take in a situation with a fresh perspective. This is similar to the Zen Buddhist idea of “beginner’s mind.”

Zen Habits blogger Leo Babauta explains, “What is beginner’s mind? It’s dropping our expectations and preconceived ideas about something, and seeing things with an open mind, fresh eyes, just like a beginner.”

The analogue in your waking life could be a situation where you are thrown into a new environment, like a new job, a new school, or even a new country. As your dream suggests, you might feel like you are on another planet.

If the unfamiliar planet in your dream is inhabited, do you interact with the inhabitants? If you are able to interact with the inhabitants, and they seem friendly, this could be a good omen that you are or soon will be developing new relationships, even if they come from somewhere unexpected.

If the inhabitants are hostile to you, this could symbolize a situation in your waking life where you feel misunderstood by others. Maybe there is a component of you being perceived as an intruder, and you don’t know how to correct this perception because there might be a grain of truth to it.

Conclusion

Overall, your dream of planets suggests you are looking at the really big picture in life. It can be hard to get a handle on things that are so distant from what we can physically touch ourselves, and that may be why people have so many different ideas about what planets mean.

As always, your dreams are trying to communicate with you personally in a language you understand, and they are therefore likely to use an interpretation of planets that is familiar to you. One thing everyone can agree on, however, is that the planets are full of possibilities.