the dreamer will fail in love, health or some business undertaking.
But at all times a bad symbol is a warning of evil, though that evil may
be minimized or exaggerated, or _vice versa_, according as signs are good.

Thus, if the dream symbol indicates wealth or fortune to the peasant,
his waking life may be gladdened by receiving or seeing a fifty-cent piece,
or finding assuring work, while the same symbol to a wealthy man would
mean many dollars, or a favorable turn in affairs.

It is the same in physical life. A man may hear the sound of a wagon.
He cannot determine by the rattle of the wheels whether it is laden
with laundry, groceries or dry goods. He may judge as to its size
and whether it is bearing a heavy or a light burden. When it
objectifies he will be able to know its full import and not before.
So with dream symbols. We may know they are fraught with evil or good,
as in the case of Pilate's wife, but we cannot tell their full meaning
until their reflections materialize before the objective sense.

Death is more frequently foretold by dream messages or visions,
as explained in another part of this chapter.

During sleep the will is suspended, leaving the mind often a prey
to its own fancy. The slightest attack of an enemy may be foretold
by the unbridled imagination exaggerating the mental picture into
a monstrous shark or snake, when, indeed, a much less portentous
sign was cast from the dream mold.

A woman may see a serpent in waking life and through fright lose reason
or self-control. She imagines it pursues her when in reality it is going
an opposite direction; in a like way dreams may be many times unreal.