The Symbology of Dreams

Strangely enough, although our waking life is vibrant with rich colors, not all our dreams have colors in them. It is true that some people seem to dream in color all the time, but they are in a small minority, because it has been ascertained by several competent researchers that most people have more dreams in black and white than in bright technicolor. Actually, the term "black and white" is misleading because colorless dreams seldom show a distinction between any hues. They are rather drab in tone and the hues seem to belong to the dullest ranges of gray and brown.

Calvin Hall, perhaps the greatest modem authority on dreams, collected thousands of dreams during his research studies, and was able to report eventually that only 29 percent of the recorded dreams had been in color.

As to the most common colors which appear in dreams, Dr. Fred Snyder, a pioneer in dream studies, found that the most recurrent color in dreams was green, with red following close behind. Yellow and blue were only half as common as green.

Dr. Patricia Garfield, another dream researcher, made a special analysis of her own dreams and discovered that color appeared more often in her dreams after several hours of rest. Dr. Garfield concluded that there may be a common chemical base for the occurrence of colors in dreams and that perhaps the cerebral cortex is more aroused when the body has been at rest for some
time.