Dream Interpretation ›  Bull - Dream meaning and symbolism

Bull - Dream meaning and symbolism

Main symbolic meaning

Strength, vitality, impulsiveness

The physical body of a bull obviously shows the main meaning itself. It’s an animal full of energy and power. Very symbolic are the horns. “Break the horn” means often “break the power”. It is not a coincidence that Boromir, a warrior from Lord of the Ring, was killed and his Horn of Gondor was broken (YouTube) at the same time. It was as a clear symbol of losing his power.

Uncontrolled energy, violence

Bull is not an animal that could be easily tamed (compared for instance to a bear). The excerption is the Ox, a castrated bull, used as draft or riding animal. Dreaming about a wild bull often means to be exposed to an unleashed source of mighty power.

Stubborn or headstrong personality

You will find a lot of funny “stubborn bull” videos on YouTube to illustrate this character trait. Yes, to dream about a bull may mean to encounter a really unshakable, rigid and determined person. Or maybe the dream bull can be interpreted as an embodiment of your own stubbornness.

Archaeological Museum in Herakleion. Minoan rhyton in form of a bull.
Two-handled jars (amphoras) with Herakles driving a bull to sacrifice | Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Dream meaning

Please, be sure that you understand the difference between Cow, Bull and Ox.

Attack - fighting with the bull

Dreaming about fighting the bull means you are trying to combat a power, that may be dangerous and is much stronger than human. It may be the sexual energy (yours or someone else's), or an animal form of the abstract feeling being insecure, exposed and vulnerable. Exceptionally to dream about a bull means to deal with a person who is born under the Taurus sign, or with a really stubborn person standing in your way.

Bull is chasing me

The main difference between fight (above) and run away is your own attitude. When you fight, you have the willingness to actively overcome some difficult situation - to face it directly, but when you are only chased and trying to escape - you show your back, and it is obvious who has the control over your dream as well as over your life.

Riding the bull

It’s a ride on a peaceful Ox or rather a wild American rodeo? Dreaming about riding a bull peacefully means clearly, that you have your power under control (sexual energy, career motivation, pure anger, ferocity, desire to bully others etc.) The directed and controlled power may bring you rich, prosperous, and abundant life. The “rodeo” option is symbolic for the more problematic relationship with your own will or with intentions of others.

Skull - death bull

Killing the bull is sometimes like killing the father. Psychoanalysis sees bull as the dominant male figure. Like in the tale of Uranus and Cronus, where is the Oedipus complex present ( Gaia gathered together Cronus and his brothers to persuade them to castrate Uranus). To see a death bull in your dream, it means a positive outcome only if he posed a great risk. In other cases it may be interpreted as an unnecessary loss, because your life is now poorer without this vital source of energy.

Mythology and fairytales

• Europa and the bull - Zeus was decided to seduce Europa and he transformed himself into a tame white bull
• Apis (deity) is a sacred bull, usually with a solar disc, identified as the son of Hathor, a primary deity in the pantheon of Ancient Egypt. Apis also served as an intermediary between humans and other powerful deities (originally Ptah, later Osiris, then Atum).
• Colchis Bulls (Khalkotauroi) - Hephaistos had a pair of bulls with bronze hooves that seemed untameable. To win the Golden Fleece Jason had to yoke them unaided. This difficult task symbolize the aim of a true hero: to curb the violence and passion to gain the symbol of spiritual perfection.
• Minotaur is a mythical creature with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man living at the center of the Labyrinth.
• Taurus  is one of the constellations of the zodiac
• The Cattle Raid of Cooley - old Irish tale deals with the conflict between Ulster and Connaught over possession of the brown bull of Cooley.
• Cornucopia - called the horn of plenty
• Water bull - sitting on the bottom of a lake, presaging storms
• Aleph, today the first letter of the alphabet, was named after their primary god, Aluf (meaning bull), and symbolized by an ox head.
• Saint Luke is often accompanied by an ox or bull, usually having wings. The ox signifies that Christians should be prepared to sacrifice themselves in following Christ.
• Crescent Moon resembles sometimes the bull's horn and it is the symbol of male fertility.

Art and culture

• Bull Headed Lyre of Ur - One of the oldest stringed instruments ever discovered.
• Lascaux cave with the Hall of the Bulls, inducted into the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list in 1979. Altaic peoples once thought imagined the marriage of heaven and Earth depicted as Ox (female Earth) white horse (male heaven).
• Bulls in heraldry and Flags with bulls
• Bullroarer (instrument YouTube) is an ancient ritual “musical” instrument, a device historically used for communicating over great distances by the Australian Aboriginal peoples
• Bullfighting - roots in prehistoric bull worship and sacrifice. Spanish-style bullfighting is called corrida. bullfighting developed in American is rodeo.

Other inspiring resources about Bulls

• What’s the Difference Between Bison and Buffalo?
• What is the Difference Between an Ox and a Bull?
• Bull market is a financial market in which prices are rising or are expected to rise. Symbolically the creation of new power.

• Bulls That Have WRECKED The Most Riders (2019)
  
• Ferdinand Offiical Trailer #2 (2017)
  
• Pamplona, Spain: Running of the Bulls