What Does Dreaming About Father-in-Law Mean?

Ibn Sirin reads the father figure as authority, keep and support. The father bond formed through marriage he counts as the balance between two families. Being received with a smiling face he reads as a door opening with good, and a face turned away as a stance that needs review.

Al-Nabulsi ties the counsel of the household elder to a word that ought to be heeded. Receiving a gift from him he reads as support, giving him one as winning a heart. Arguing he counts as a tension between two families that has gone unspoken.

By Ja'far al-Sadiq's method the father-in-law is read in four directions: the authority above the household, an admonition drawn from experience, the balance between two families, and a support awaited. Being received warmly and given counsel is the most auspicious. Silence points to delay.

In the Jungian approach the father figure carries the archetype of authority and law; the father-in-law is that archetype in its chosen form, without blood. Speaking with him in a dream shows the self working to come to terms with outer authority. Receiving his counsel points to inner guidance being accepted.

From the Freudian perspective the father-in-law is a displaced representation of the father image. Arguing with him is the repetition of unresolved conflicts with authority in a new setting. Receiving a gift is the unconscious counterpart of the desire to be accepted and approved.

Those newly married, those working to build a relationship with a spouse's family, and those awaiting the approval of family elders see this dream often. The question the symbol carries is this: is the voice whose approval you await truly outside, or is it your own critic? The dream calls the dreamer to tell listening apart from submitting.