Dreaming of Lice – Symbolic Meaning of Parasites


As many of you may know by now, I get a lot of colorful questions asked of me about symbolic meanings as well as symbolic dream meanings.  

This recent question from one of my readers was a welcome change.  Often our first response to the subject of lice or parasites is “Eww! Yuck!” 

Not fair!  Parasites have symbolic meaning too!  In fact, while researching the meaning of lice and parasites in general, I found these little creatures  have many lessons to impart to us. 

My response to this reader’s question about what it means when we dream of lice and symbolic meaning of parasites follows:

Dear Bugged Out:

Lice, as you know, are parasitic creatures.  They require a host in order to exist.

When Lice come to our attention in our dreams, it can be an indication that our subconscious is trying to tell us to let go of some pesky people or ideals in our lives.

When we are being “sucked dry” by too many responsibilities, too many obligations, or torn in too many directions by well-meaning people, the Louse will come to our attention as a message to withdraw ourselves and resist being pulled into situations we do not wish for ourselves.

The fact that you were dreaming of Lice around your head and down the spine indicates that you may be dealing with some challenging thoughts (the head & spinal cord being symbolic of the nervous system & the origin of thought), that there are many choices before you – and all of them may be “bugging” you.  Perhaps it is difficult for you to find peace for all the thoughts and choices you are experiencing right now.

Nevertheless, you can take advantage of the Louse.  Observe the beauty in its symbiotic relationship with its host.  The Louse actually changes its DNA to accommodate that of its host – assuring a life-long relationship.  This is a lesson of flexibility, and a message that we can work with our challenges rather than fight against them.

This is a clear message that we can learn to live with our decisions – that we can indeed make the best of things.  Sometimes we need only to adapt in order to live in peace.

Furthermore, the Louse never takes more from its host than either can handle (for to do so would destroy its own livelihood).  This is a message that we can all learn from.  Sometimes when Lice are in our dreams it indicates that we are either asking too much from our loved ones, or they are asking too much of us.

77 Comments on “Dreaming of Lice – Symbolic Meaning of Parasites”

  1. Wow! I can’t believe how much this directly relates to what’s been going on with me this week!

  2. Hi! I woke up this morning thinking about the yucki dream I had last night and googled it and I found u! I’m not sure what exacly this dream was about but sounds very similar to mine…I dreamed of my daughter having lice, in the dream I was actually taking them out of her hair and killing them and as I killed them I was placing them in the floor and counting them, the last one I pulled was huge and it bit me as I grabed it with my fingers and I killed it, I even heard the cracking sound as I killed them in bet my nails, there were about 8 in total laying on the floor, is this the same meaning??

  3. Hi MR.,
    Each dream will have different meanings according to the dreamer.

    When I think of your dream, I think of nagging thoughts that might be “buggging” your daughter…or situations that might be clinging around your daughter that you may find undesirable.

    A natural role of parenthood is to protect our children – picking out the parasites could be an analogy for protecting your child from nagging, disturbing situations.

    Just some thoughts.

    Namaste
    A.

  4. Thank you! But what is interesting is that the interpretation of the other dream SOUNDS LIKE ME RIGHT NOW!

  5. hi i have had 3 dreams now of head lice on me and i scratching that much in my sleep, its starting to worry me as i don’t have them. but i cant relate to what was said in your symbolic meaning of parasites. i believe it must related to some thing just cant figure it out.

  6. I dreamt of a rat that I felt a fondness towards and I allowed it to get into bed with me and I petted it. While I was stroking it lice started jumping off its back. I heard people saying kill it kill it, but I was sad but also disgusted at the same time towards the lice.

  7. omg this is so true. this has been going on with me for awhile now and after reading this and my dream I now know what I need to do. Thanks it was alot of help

  8. Dear Avia
    I am really impressed with your symbolic meanings blog and would like to receive more of your stuff!
    Thank you and regards

  9. I was dreaming that I was removing the head lice from my granddaughter head also killing them with my nails..I could see them so clearly as they were crawling around her neck..but the meaning you gave is so close to want is happening to me right now and many Thanks…Have a great day!

  10. i love this website, your meanings are so right.
    i had a dream that i brushed 5 headlice out of my hair into the sink and was really angry that i had them. strange

  11. i been thinking about the head lice dream all day today, and just really wanted to know what it meant. and what you said totally made sence.

  12. avenefica,
    Thank you for your insight. I was not sure what would pop up when I Googled what was in my dream last night. My first thought was “ewww”, but now it makes sense.
    In my dream…a lady I did not know had them tons of them jumping out and I did not want them to get on my, so I killed them as they jumped out. I stilled helped the lady, but she did not seem to notice them…I was worried they would get all over my house/kids/self etc, but still helped. I was rather confused and concerned….So not sure what that means in that context, but can relate to your Symbolic Perspective. THANK YOU

  13. This is all so interesting! I had a dream last night about my mom telling me that she had lice and asking me to check her head and kill as many as I can find! Any little crawling creep gives me the creeps and so I told her I don’t know what they look like. So she grabbed my niece (she has some) and told me this is what they look like. I couldn’t see them because they were so small and out of nowhere one huge one crawled right out and as my mom tried to kill it it jumped right out of my niece’s head but I was the one that killed it in the air! What does that MeaN???

  14. Hi, I found this article very interesting and so related on my situation right now. I nearly cried when I read this article, I never imagine that louse could be significant on my unconscious thoughts. Yes, I am really torn on my situation right now and I don’t know the meaning of decision now, that’s how torn I am. Thank you Avia for sharing this wonderful article with us. You made me realize to hear my self from time to time.

  15. i had this dream and thank you that you were able to interpret it.I’m experiencing the same situation that i have lots of obligations to do this past weeks.It really relates on whats going on with my life many thanks

  16. Hi! You’re a very interesting and gifted person. This article really helped me out. Thank you!

  17. I believe that every dream has to do with something in your real life. And this one hit the lice in the head, lol ( pun intended)

  18. Just wanted to let you know that i enjoyed reading this after having a dream of pulling lice and nits from a young girls hair. I never saw the girls face but i just kept thinking it was my daughter or a friends daughter. I woke up all thinking that it could only mean despair, but after reading your analysis, i feel better. THANK YOU

  19. My brother suggested I may like this blog. He used to
    be entirely right. This publish truly made my day. You can not imagine just how a lot
    time I had spent for this information! Thank you!

  20. This is crazy how much this relates to my life now…so far 2 dreams and (i cannot take it anymore!) thank u so much for the great info!!

  21. Last night I saw lice in my dream. There were too many of them. I was combing my hair and they were all over a white cloth. Big lice!! I was disturbed to see them. At morning I told my husband about it. I searched through internet and found your article. I am so surprised to see the relevance to my time and my dream. Thank you.

  22. Hi Avenefica,
    I’m totally amazed with the meaning of my dream too. Can relate so close to it. Thanks to you I can see that these mental disturbances are affecting me.

  23. I dreamt that I have many many small lice in my head and I was killing them with my nails….
    I was shocked when I woke up because I haven’t dreamt like this before…

  24. Hi my mom has been dreaming 2 days about a pool full of lies and I was wondering if you knew what that meant and why she was dreaming that.

  25. I just lost my job yesterday. Dreamt of louse last night, worried about it, googled it, and found this. Really helped me a lot. Thank you very much.

  26. Im dreaming about snake.please tell me what is the.meaning of this dream..thank you..miss alakdana.

  27. Hi I was told in he past that dreaming with headlice meant good fortune and money, but this seems more likely, I dreamt me and my youngest daughter had huge lice into our heads and we were soup they were jumping out but they didn’t look like lice, they looked like aliens not only that I also dreamt in the same dream a had a rat on my chest biting on my shirt like trying to wake me up, it was the weirdest dream I ever had and I’m not sure if my subconscious is trying to warn me

  28. Hi, I dreamt I had lice and my mother was helping get rid of them. They kept jumping off my head and I would kill them with my nail. As I killed them they would make a loud pop and I noticed they were all really light colored. I then went on to inform my coworkers since I assumed a student might have passed them on to me. And they said they would check their students. I am interested in finding out what killing them means…..and why they were jumping off my head.

  29. I dreamt of big lice last night,im writing in a bandpaper and i found it there ,i found 1 then another 1 and theres the last 1,they are very big lice almost the same as lice of a dog…i killed the 2 of them but i didnt killed the last lice bcoz it is missing and i didnt found it.Please give me the meaning of my dream,it bothers me right now.

  30. Hello, I had a dream last night that the I was in line, ” like at starbucks or something” back of my head was itchy, so I scratched, there was an unknown woman in the dream that noticed when I scratched I had a huge head lice that jumped out of hair I was so embarrassed. But I killed it, Is the meaning still the same?

  31. Any thoughts on my dream? Not sure where to go from here or how to interpret as it is quite bizarre.

    My cousin and I were talking and had just got done doing the dishes. She’s lives in a different state in reality but we are very close regardless. On the kitchen counter was this blue bottle, with no cap and it looked similar to a fancy liquor bottle, it was square and wider at the bottom and a transparant blue. The label was facing the wall so I did not see exactly what that liquid was, but I took a swig off of it anyway. Lol

    So I look at the label only afterwards and my cousin is like laughing at me saying not to drink it, my other cousin (her sister, which I’m not as close with) had left it there a few days back and it was to treat lice. Sure enough, I look at the bottle and it has a picture of lice and other critters on there.

    As you can see it is really hard to find out the meaning because it is very complex. Lol

  32. Wow, thanks a mill, this is unbelievable, I cant believe that dreaming of something so “yuck” is the result of something that is so meaningful and makes so much sense in life.

  33. Omg i have a friend who has lice and just dreamed about ger trying to hug me and that her lice were getting bigger and bigger wish she cared about her lice and yay thank God i found this site

  34. Hi. Last night my mom saw a dream in which she was removing & killing lice from my hair’s . But that dreM signify ,, because my mom is worried about it due to my marriage in next month & she realtes it to future

  35. Dreamed of both my, and my daughter’s clothed bodies covered with bright orange lice which I was picking off. The context, best as I can recall, had something to do with moving, which is a constant theme for me. Aren’t orange lice, however, specifically of the pubic sort? Hoping not to have this particular dream again.

  36. Hi, i dreamed of dog lice on my eye fold. It comes in different sizes. I tried removing and killing them. What does this mean? Thanks

  37. I had a dream that i was pulling lies out of my daughters hair n i could hear the sounds of them when i was killing them n then as i was doing that she had a worm in her hair also can u tell me what that means pl thks

  38. This is really true..the meaning of lice in my dreams is exactly happening to me everyday,i always thinking of negative thoughts about my husband because of his busy schedule in his works..thanks for these explanation it really helps me a lot to clear out my mind in to many question about my dreams..

  39. hi, last night I dreamt that my hair is infested with lice and head lice. it is so plenty that every strand of my hair has lice and head lice…I pull and kill them and I use comb to get them too …I even ask my friend to help me.

  40. I had a dream tht my head was itching so i used a comb to catch lice and i was killing them.
    Can u please explain this?

  41. Thank you so much This its been eye opening to me and been dealing with this for couple weeks now and this Dream Just help me decided. Again thank you I appreciate your respond

  42. I had a dream of so many lies in my hear, then I was combing trying to get them all putting crushing them in white shirt, and while doing that I think I was talking with friends in the dream. I don’t get my dream. But in my actual situation, I am depressed broken. What is this all about. 🙁

  43. I had a dream of so many lies in my head, then I was combing my hair trying to get them all putting crushing them in white shirt, and while doing that I think I was talking with friends in the dream. I don’t get my dream. But in my actual situation, I am depressed broken. What is this all about. 🙁

  44. This seems sort of weird, but I had dreamed I had bugs flying around my head,swatting them away,then realized they were lice, in the dream i was concerned about my hair because using lice treatment may affect my hair color, then I realized I’m due for a color treatment anyways, so it did not matter and it was fixable,,,so the dream stopped….BUT, the next morning when I woke up,my husband told me his daughter that we were around a week and a half ago, discovered she had lice a few days after we saw her, I’m really concerned,not just possibly having lice,,I treated myself weather I had it or not cus i was around her, it’s the next morning after my dream, hereing she had it and not knowing nothing prior of her having it,but I dreamed of me having it before I knew I was ever exposed….what’s that about?

  45. Hi A
    Namaste
    Your interpretation pretty much relates with my current situaltion.
    Last night I dreamed of my Mother in Law putting small louse (3) in my bead around the head of my 6 months old daughter.
    Can you explain the meaning..

    P.S. my MiL always try to insist my husband to get divorced and marry to a girl of her choice. Literally making a brainwash.

  46. My girlfriend rang me this morning and told me about the dream she had last night – she dreamt that I had lice in my hair and she was combing them out- droves of them – then she turned around and I had a box on my head and the lice were coming out from under the box and climbing all over it- she is so upset about this dream I decided to look up the meaning of ‘lice’ in a dream when I found you, could you please help me with the meaning of her dream

  47. i dream that there is a lice on my head.. so i get them all and i got a comb and get all tha lice and kill them all. what is the meaning of my dreams. pls interpret. thanks

  48. i dream that there is a lice on my head.. so i get them all and i got a comb and get all tha lice and kill them all. what is the meaning of my dreams. pls interpret. thanks

  49. Omg! Dreamt I had head lice last night and looked it up. This is so accurate.. I’m off to shower now and wash my hair a dozen times.. then start weeding out what’s sucking me dry. Thanks!!

  50. I saw a fat lady that is very talkative and I don’t know her is here and I m combing her hair and her life ate spread over her shirt as I combed
    And I m now scared that those louse will spread over my house and will get to my kids and they get affected
    This lady is after me want to get my friend in dream some neibour

  51. I saw a fat lady that is very talkative and I don’t know her is here and I m combing her hair and her life ate spread over her shirt as I combed
    And I m now scared that those louse will spread over my house and will get to my kids and they get affected
    This lady is after me want to get my friend in dream some neibour

  52. Thank you very much for this info. Seems like I was enlightened. I was heavily crying yesterday because of too much pressure. I guess I really need to cool my head so that these parasites won’t get into me. Again, thanks a lot.

  53. I dream about combing my hair to get the lice when I.was about to kill it, it was gone then I comb again there were lices when I waa about to kill them it was lost again
    jasmine

  54. Hi. I had a dream of lice and I googled meaning where I find you. In my dream, I feel like scratching my head and all of sudden 03 louse fell down and while looking at them I thought I do not have them in my head so where they come from? While thinking about louse and scratching head, louse got separate there selves from each other and run away in three different directions. Well, its all happened in a second and then I woke up. Kindly explain the meaning if this dream.
    Thank you.

  55. wow thank u for opening my mind knowing my dream meaning about lice its really related of wat iv been having through dis past few days n it makes me realize a lot of things i had to be more dis tym n for future thanks i found dis page…:)

  56. I recently had a dream that I left my hair brush at my mother in laws house and went back to pick it up. I used it then later found out I had lice. So I went back and asked her if they had used it and she said her and my sister in law used it and that they had lice. Does anyone know what that could mean?

  57. Hi!
    Im kind of going through a situation where my mother in law gets a bit violent sometimes and out of control(it’s some psychological mood related disorder), so i had a dream where im combing out lice from my hair and then the next thing that’s happening is that my mother in law is trying to get violent with me. (P.s: this is not the complete detail of the dream and i do not have lice in reality. Also im really confused these days about whether we should move out or what)

  58. Hi,

    What if you see golden lice in your daughters hair that’s small and shinning white in color?

  59. Namaste
    I saw lice in my hair and every time I pulled them out from my hair they were two in no and afterwards I killed them . It happened three times ,means total six I pulled out and killed with my nails and it were dark black in colour.
    What is the meaning please tell me.
    Thank you
    Jas

  60. Hi, I have dreamt about picking ticks from my nieces head, there were both big and small once, I also dreamt about eating small lice they were in my juice that I drank, what could these two dreams mean?

    Amz

  61. Hi, I have dreamt about picking ticks from my nieces head, there were both big and small once, I also dreamt about eating small lice they were in my juice that I drank, what could these two dreams mean?

    Amz

  62. Dear Avia,

    I saw lice in someone’s hair and I was cleaning that persons hair. I took out many lice. Most of these lice were big and dark coloured. I felt very concerned while cleaning the lice and felt the pain the other person might have to go through because of these insects. Even though I felt yucky I still preferred to help. It felt like that other person was someone close to me and it was easy for me to clean all the lice in her head.

    Can you interpret my dream for me.

    Thank you!

    Best,
    Lisha

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