Frogs often visit my dreams. I’ve had a bright green one jump to my face and softly cling there.
June 27 dream: I’m with my two kids. There’s something scary. They start down a path. I call to them to climb a tiny hill with me but they keep on down the path. I wait and wait, finally come back down. The evil is down there, a man. He’s coming. I jump to hide, crouching behind a barely protruding corner, completely inadequate. The kids come back. There’s a pile of stuff, and in it, some living things that I had charge of before. I think I see a little white frog jump. My son and I go after it. I catch it and take it “to the front,” thinking there used to be a little pond there. I tell my son I want to add water back in there for the frog.
James Hall puts frogs in his section, “Alchemical Motifs in Dreams.” As with alchemy, creatures that change form can indicate transition and developmental shifts, bringing new inspiration. They’re archetypal because they’re an ancient blueprint for a pattern of meaning, an essence, a seed form in the psyche.
Amphibians lead a double life, dividing their time between land and water. The association with both elements links them to magical lore and fairytails, often found near deep wells, considered sources of wisdom for ancient Celts.
In some shamanic traditions of the Americas, frogs control weather. The Egyptians tied frogs, due to their transformative powers, with the goddess Hemit who helped Isis resurrect the dismembered Osiris. Frogs were sacred to Heqet, Egyptian goddess of embryonic waters. There are statues of frog-women, resembling birth with their crouching legs, as far back as 6000 BCE. In some traditions, as water beings, they are the keepers of dreams.
Showing up in one’s life, they might be harbingers of a message to ground one’s emotions in order for action to be informed by emotion, not overwhelmed by it. In the book, Animal Speak, Ted Andrews writes that those with the frog totem (as might be indicated by frequent frog dreams) will need to be around water. “Being around natural water sources will be essential for their overall health and well-being.” This comes right as I contemplate moving to the coast.
Amphibians have very clear major transitions, such as tadpole to frog. When they show up, ask yourself, “what stage of metamorphosis am I in?” To the Chinese, they were symbols of abundance.
This totem might prompt a person to ask “Am I becoming too mundane … mired in the mud of everyday life?” I can see that as a possibility for myself. Maybe a dive into fresh creative waters is needed.
Frogs are very sensitive and attuned to sound in their environment. Frog people might use their voices to stir emotions, or to call change to them in the climatic conditions of their life. Rib-bit!
It seems like the little frog in my dream was a guide, taking me from what I feared, at the back or in the unconscious, “to the front” (conscious mind?) where I might “add water” (get more in touch with emotion).
As one of the most endangered creatures on earth, perhaps there was an outward-looking message to the dream, a call for help from the frogs who do not drink water but absorb it through their skin, absorbing toxins we put in their environment as they try to quench their thirst.