Dreaming of Monkeys

What does it mean to dream about monkeys?

Dream monkeys are about imitation, cunning and a mind that cannot sit still. Monkeys are among the animals most like us: they copy our faces and gestures, swing from tree to tree and reach for everything out of curiosity. So the dream monkey can show someone imitating you or trying to win your favour, or your own playful, scattered side.

The monkey has two faces. One is joy, wit and creativity; the other is flattery, trickery and irresponsibility. To tell which one visited you, look at what the monkey did to you. A monkey that made you laugh and a monkey that snatched something out of your hand are the same animal in two dreams that have almost nothing in common.

A monkey attacking you, a monkey in the house and other common monkey dreams

A monkey attacking you

A monkey attacking you shows someone close causing trouble indirectly rather than openly: talking behind your back, undermining your work, twisting your words. A small but persistent attack shows someone trying to wear you down. Chasing the monkey off shows you have seen through the game and drawn your line.

Dreaming of a monkey biting you

A monkey bite is a small betrayal that stings, from someone you trusted. A bite on the hand shows work you did or a kindness you offered going unrewarded. If the monkey ran off after biting, the other person does not want to take responsibility for what they did.

A monkey in the house

A monkey loose in your home shows restless energy getting into family life. Opening cupboards and scattering everything, it shows a mess nobody takes responsibility for. Rummaging through the kitchen, it points to a habit dipping into the household budget or table. A calm, sweet monkey in the house shows you need more play and laughter at home.

A baby monkey

A baby monkey stands for childlike curiosity, the wish to play and an innocence that needs protecting. Carrying one in your arms shows you caring for your inner child or a little one in your life. A baby clinging tightly to its mother shows a growing need to lean on someone to feel safe; handing it back shows you letting go of a responsibility that was never yours.

A gorilla

A gorilla is the monkey’s heavy, powerful face: brute force, protectiveness or someone who gets their way through strength. A gorilla beating its chest shows a person who wants to display their power, or anger you have held down. A gorilla sitting quietly shows a silent but solid protector nearby. Walking up to it without fear shows you can make your voice heard even with someone powerful.

A monkey copying you

A monkey mimicking your movements shows either someone taking your ideas or style as their own, or you seeing yourself in an exaggerated mirror. If the imitation made you angry, you feel your effort has been stolen. If it made you laugh, you are noticing that you take yourself too seriously.

A monkey swinging from tree to tree

A monkey leaping from branch to branch shows your mind jumping from one subject to the next and struggling to focus. Turkish calls someone with this restless appetite “monkey-hungry”: keen on everything and committed to nothing. If the monkey finally settled on one branch and ate, you are close to choosing among your scattered enthusiasms.

A monkey in a cage

A caged monkey describes suppressed playfulness or cunning kept under control. If the cage is your own rules, you are not letting yourself laugh or make mistakes. If the monkey wore the face of someone you know, you have taken the sting out of their games. Opening the cage and setting it free shows you deciding to be more flexible with yourself.

A monkey stealing from you

A monkey snatching your food, your bag or your phone shows a chance lost through carelessness, or someone abusing your trust. Getting the stolen thing back shows you can defend what is yours. What the monkey took tells you directly what you need to protect.

A black monkey

A black monkey is a trick kept in shadow, or a slyness in yourself you do not acknowledge: a small lie, an act you put on to manage someone. If it vanished into the dark, you are postponing facing that side of yourself. Meeting its eyes shows you ready to admit the little trick, at least to yourself.

The emotional and psychological meaning

The monkey is both the sweetest and the most uncomfortable mirror we have. Among the archetypes, the trickster, the figure who breaks the rules and brings both chaos and renewal, often takes a monkey’s shape in dreams. The monkey resembles us so closely that we see in it our own mimicry, cunning and boundless curiosity. The “monkey mind” of Buddhist teaching describes the same thing: a restless intellect leaping from one thought to the next and never coming to rest.

Waking amused points to your cheerfulness, creativity and wish to bend the rules a little. Waking uneasy or suspicious points to someone around you whose sincerity you cannot trust. Confusion comes from a scattered mind dealing with too many things at once.

Focus on a single task for five minutes, and make a small mark on paper every time your mind jumps elsewhere. The number of marks shows you how lively the monkey in your dream really was.

Monkeys in folklore and dream tradition

Anatolian tabir books take the monkey as a cunning, flattering, two-faced person. Being attacked is read as harm coming from such a person; driving the monkey away or overcoming it, as spoiling their game. Feeding a monkey is read as giving your effort to someone who does not deserve it. The Turkish saying “the monkey has opened its eyes” describes someone who can no longer be fooled.

On the sacred stable of the Tōshō-gū shrine in Nikkō, Japan, a carving of three monkeys covering their eyes, ears and mouth carries the maxim “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”. Turkish speakers know the three monkeys by their own phrase for staying out of trouble: “I didn’t see, I didn’t hear, I don’t know.” The classic Chinese novel Journey to the West gives the world Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, famous for his cunning and rebellion, who learns on the long journey to bind that energy to a purpose. In both traditions the monkey’s wit is something to be trained, not destroyed.

Tarot cards linked to monkey dreams

The Magician carries the monkey’s wit and sleight of hand. As Pamela Colman Smith painted him for the Rider–Waite–Smith deck, he raises a wand towards the sky with one hand and points to the ground with the other; an infinity sign floats above his head, and a cup, a sword, a pentacle and a wand lie on the table before him. He uses his tools with skill, and that skill can turn into creativity or into trickery. If your monkey dream felt like a clever game, the card asks what that cleverness is serving.

The monkey’s hidden side has its own picture: in the Seven of Swords a man tiptoes away from the edge of a camp with five swords in his arms, glancing back, while two swords stay stuck in the ground. If a monkey stole something from you in the dream, this card points to a plan around you that nobody is saying out loud.

Describe what the monkey did, whom it copied or what it grabbed, by choosing Dream from the Divinations section of the Larisa app.