Dreams about killing, murder, shooting others – what do they mean? (dream interpretation killing, murder)

Dream interpretation killing, to kill, murder. Dreaming that you are killing other people might mean many things. Those you kill could symbolize something in yourself that you can’t or won’t approve of (realise about yourself) or something you’d like to get rid of. Most will tell you however, that this simply isn’t possible. At best, you can be aware of these sides of yourself and work on accepting them in order to control them better.

It might also be the case that there’s an internal battle between different sides of you. For example, the “nice” man/woman is battling a more rough/straight forward/shameless side of yourself. In this way you might see another person (representing the “nice” version of you), hitting another person (representing the more rough or shameless side of you).

You might also dream about killing your parents. To a lot of people this will seem very intense and very difficult to understand at first. Why would I want to kill my own parents? In this case, you might ask yourself if you have any reason to be angry or upset with them. Maybe there is something in your relationship with your parents that has yet to be dealt with – something you haven’t spotted that would give you a reason to be (unconsciously) angry with them even though you normally think your parents have been nothing but “good”.

Similarly, you might dream that you are killing your children. Of course, this is out of proportion to real life, but again, you might ask yourself, hypothetically, is there any reason you’d somehow wish your children weren’t here right now? I’ve coached several people with this exact dream. They felt angry about having had children too early in life with the result of a “ruined” youth. In daily life, this translated into being excessively strict with their children (often telling them off for example, where this is not appropriate), and in the language of dreams this translated into killing the children.

In an internal interpretation, the dream might also symbolize killing your own “inner child”. In other words, you are not accommodating this (vital) part of yourself – the ability to let go, to let your hair down, to be curious and open. If you are killing another (maybe unknown) child, this may illustrate the same, but it might also symbolize that you are suppressing a part of yourself. This part could be anything: your musicality, your inner geek, or your inner square dancer – whatever the child could symbolize!

If you are dreaming that you are killing other people, this may symbolize that something in you does not want you as you are or that you would like you to see yourself differently – for better or for worse! Perhaps it is better that you “die” (that your current personality dies) in order for something else – something better – to appear (see also the blog post on Death). The dream might also be an image of a very self-destructive side of yourself that is making life difficult for you. Finally and as a further external interpretation, the dream might also be a real person in your life who wishes bad things for you.

Also read: Why I no longer interpret dreams for free

Best, Michael

NOTE: Dream interpretation isn’t always easy, and when you are dreaming about killing other people, it will most likely mean something different for you than for others with the same dream. For instance the people in your dream will be different from other people’s dreams. A good indicator of your interpretation being correct is if you strongly feel it applies to you – deep inside of yourself.