Feminine Empowerment: The Power of Masculine Dream Images

The masculine figures who appear in dreams are some of the most powerful allies women have on their empowerment journey

Over the last few weeks, I’ve had a couple of dreams about a man I went to high school with. The dreams reminded me of the power of the men in our dreams.

In working with our dreams, there are few hard and fast rules. One rule that I personally have is to honor dreams and to be grateful for their presence. Over the years of working with dreams, I have also found that masculine dream figures often represent women’s “inner” masculine (sometimes referred to as the animus). This masculine presence is critical to women’s empowerment.

In recent times, the masculine is often talked about in negative terms, such as toxic masculinity. Certainly, there are destructive aspects of the masculine, particularly its drive for power. However, there are positive aspects of the masculine, too. A healthy masculine moves us solidly forward in the world, helping us to achieve our goals. He helps us to stand firmly in our power. Women need a strong connection with a healthy inner masculine for their own agency, and as a wise woman once told me, a healthy masculine helps a woman bring her work into the world.

Unfortunately, this isn’t fostered by our culture. Instead of a healthy masculine who moves us towards our own aspirations, many women’s inner masculines are hyper-critical, leaving them without a solid sense of self-worth. This unhealthy masculine reminds us constantly of what we lack. He berates us for our imperfections. He works against us.

We can begin to catch glimpses of our inner masculine through our dream images. The nature of the men in our dreams and our relationship with them reflect the “health” of our masculine side and our relationship to it/him.

For instance, in my dream, I was trying to set my high school friend, Ken, up with a woman. I was playing matchmaker for him. It didn’t work out between Ken and the other woman. When it ended with her, he suggested that we get together. I was surprised and pleased that he wanted to get together. And so we did.

In considering the dream, I wondered why Ken appeared in it. We haven’t seen each other for decades — probably since graduation. But as psyche chose him specifically for this dream, I considered what he might reflect about my inner masculine. I considered Ken a good friend in high school. He was funny, smart, and kind. He was creative and artsy — more in touch with his “feminine” side than most men in the 1980s. The one thing that always impressed me about Ken is that he didn’t seem to care too much about fitting in. He was very comfortable with who he was.

In many ways, Ken was an image of a healthy masculine. Any woman would be lucky to have him as her animus. So, it was interesting that I chose to pair him up with someone else. Perhaps, I didn’t fully appreciate his value, or perhaps I didn’t feel worthy of him. That wasn’t clear in the dream.

Even though I’ve been working on my inner masculine for years, it seems that there was still work for me to do, particularly in the area of bringing in the creative. And also a reminder of the importance of being true to myself, even if that comes with a cost.

I couldn’t resist doing a quick search to see what Ken was up to now — and not surprisingly, he is very successful in a creative field.

Even though the dream was very short and sweet, it impacted the way I feel about myself and my work. It felt as if the dream and psyche were letting me know that there is this strong, creative masculine energy out there for me to access — one that I didn’t think to connect to at first.

And as I move through my working days I keep it in mind, actively engaging with it and grateful for its presence.