Being visited by a spirit animal in your dream is always exciting but it’s also often quite mysterious. Coyotes are a great example of that – what is the dream coyote symbolism? Is it good or bad? Are the myths of Native Americans about the coyote totem animal true or am I dreaming this merely by chance?
Well, with dreams, one can never be certain. Our position has always been that, as manifestations of our subconscious mind, dreams mean whatever our individual subconscious associates with them. With that in mind, if you personally believe in certain spiritual notions about the coyote as a power animal, that may be exactly what your subconscious is trying to tell you.
So, let’s look at what does a dream about coyotes mean and the 9 very probable explanations we’ve identified.
Basalt
What does a dream about coyotes mean?
All throughout the Americas but especially in North America, coyotes have always had a very special place in people’s spiritual beliefs. Different from the wolf and from any other creature, the coyote is a prairie wanderer, an independent scavenger, but also a fierce competitor when threatened, and even a pack hunter when necessary.
All those unique characteristics and spiritual associations make it obvious why coyotes are so common as animal totems. However, that alone doesn’t explain what your dream about coyotes means – for that, you’ll need to look for some of the details of your dream as well as for context from your waking life.
1. You may feel that it’s time to hit the road
One of the standard associations most people have with coyotes is one of adaptability, enthusiasm for the open world, and a desire to roam free. In many ways, coyotes are the power animal of modern-day nomads, the type of people who love to live and work on the road.
If you have a similar association in your mind, having a dream about coyotes might be your subconscious mind urging you to ditch whatever stationary job you’re currently holding and get on the road. Whether or not that’s good advice is up to you.
2. You crave more independence
Just as they symbolize freedom, coyotes also symbolize independence for most of us. If you tend to see them that way, then it very well could be that your coyote dream means that you feel a bit too dependent on others right now and you perceive that as a weakness.
As above, whether or not that perception is accurate is up to you to decide, we don’t know your life. In general, there’s usually nothing wrong with looking for a bit more independence, especially if you’re currently definitively dependent on someone such as your parents or a bread-earning spouse.
Indeed, the people that most often have coyote dreams are late teens or young adults who feel the need to leave home as well as people who don’t feel all right in their long-term relationships.
3. There are aspects of your inner self you feel you don’t yet know
As a common totem and spirit animal, the coyote often appears to us as a stand-in for our inner self. It’s not uncommon for people to dream about coyotes trying to lead them somewhere or point them toward something as a sort of spiritual guide.
Whether or not your coyote dream should be interpreted in such a way depends on how you view this spirit animal – if you are inherently spiritual yourself, that very well may be the correct interpretation. Although, a lot of people also view the coyote as a trickster type of spirit so it might be that your subconscious is playing tricks on you.
4. You fear a conflict may be coming
Seeing a coyote staring at you from a distance in your dream can also be seen as a warning from your inner self that you’re close to getting into a nasty conflict with someone. This interpretation is usually true when you’ve dreamt about a black coyote and when the animal didn’t try to lead you anywhere but instead was appearing repeatedly in the distance and in a warning fashion.
It’s easy to confuse such dreams as prophecies and we won’t fault anyone who sees them that way. For us, however, this is usually your inner self reacting to certain hints from your waking life. It could be that you’ve been on edge when talking to someone, there’s been trouble with your partner or parents, and so on – little things your subconscious picked up on and is now warning you to be careful.
5. You sense trouble is brewing and fear you may not be up to the task
A coyote dream can have negative connotations without being a warning about conflict too – it may just be a warning of incoming trouble of any kind or just general issues in your life. This explanation is especially likely if you dreamt of a white coyote or an injured coyote, and the general tone of the dream was quite negative.
The type of trouble can be anything your subconscious would warn you about – you fear deception from someone close to you, you have a lack of ambition and a generally low self-esteem that’s hampering you at work, you’re afraid of health issues with you or someone close to you, and so on.
The dream will usually have details pointing you in the right direction or you can just consider what are the current issues in your life the dream can be in reference to.
6. You may also need to seek the help of others as you fear you won’t manage alone
While the coyote is a symbol of independence, a dream of something happening to a coyote or restricting it into place can symbolize the exact opposite. A dead coyote in a dream or one that’s caught in a trap or in an enclosed place hints at the fact that sometimes, even the most independent and capable of us can need a little help from others.
How exactly this refers to your personal life is up to you to decipher. Maybe you’ve gotten in a bit too much trouble recently trying to do things your way and refusing to accept others’ help. Or, maybe, your subconscious feels that it’s time for you to settle down and look for new beginnings together with someone else.
7. You feel your inner self more empowered than usual
Another drastically opposite interpretation is also possible if you’ve just dreamt of a giant coyote that appeared to you in a dream. Such a giant and usually friendly coyote can be a great animal totem pushing you toward honor and wisdom rather than failure. The animal is also often a talking coyote and can come in either of the traditional red coyote or blue coyote coat colors.
Or, at least, that’s what many spiritual guides and myths say. If you believe in such spirituality or even if you’ve heard about it recently, your subconscious mind can easily be using this as a useful metaphor to help nudge you in the right direction and give you the inner strength you need.
8. You’re afraid your situation may get worse
On the other hand, coyotes in your dreams can also be perceived as the dangerous animals that they are in real life. Dreaming of a coyote attacking you or your family, or of a pack of coyotes circling around your home or chasing you down the streets tends to always have a very clear meaning – you are afraid of something.
The exact type of fear depends on the situation you’re in but it’s likely something major that you’re worried will get progressively worse soon.
9. You need to nurture your inner self and slowly teach yourself to be free
Dreaming of a baby coyote is not that common but when it happens, the dream’s interpretation is usually pretty clear – there’s a new grain of freedom and independence being born within you that you should nurture and grow.
Dreams of you finding and caring for a baby coyote are often full of child-like wonder and a sense of new opportunities waiting behind corners you haven’t dared pass before. This type of dream usually finds us when we’re feeling particularly hopeful about our future and when we expect some major positive changes to come our way.
In conclusion
The most common coyote dream meaning is associated with independence – either the striving for it or the need to give it up at times. Differentiating between the two can be difficult with no context or details, however, so we can only give you pointers – it’s up to you to figure out what exactly the dream meant for you, personally, given your situation in life and the specific details of the dream.
Basalt