Dreaming of Adoption and Taking in a Child
Dream Symbolism
Dreaming of adopting or taking in a child primarily symbolizes building karmic connections, drawing in blessings, expressing compassion, and continuing the family line. Adopting a well-behaved, docile child or achieving a state of familial harmony is considered an auspicious sign. Adopting a disobedient, unruly child, or abandoning the adoption later with regret, is considered an inauspicious sign. The dream symbolizes meritorious karma and blessings, domestic harmony and personal connections, and one's spiritual or moral cultivation.
General Interpretation Codex
Adopting builds karmic ties; blessings will stretch far and wide. A child who's good and mild; keeps the home safe, you can confide. Taking in a child, smooth and steady; a hundred matters find joy already. Stubborn, naughty, hard to rear; mind beset by trouble and fear. Quitting the adoption, a change of heart; blessings falter, torn apart.
Symbolic Commentary (象曰)
A heart of mercy, taking in a child; fortune flourishes, your path beguiled. Gathering bonds, receiving grace; a future filled with glory's trace. A mischievous child upsets the home; troubles for the household roam. To start with kindness but end with forsaking; diminishing one's own blessings, making.
Detailed Interpretations by Scenario
- Dreaming of adopting a well-behaved, sensible, and gentle child: Indicates a merciful and compassionate heart is accumulating good karma. It signifies an increase in blessings and happiness for the household, with personal relationships and karmic rewards growing ever deeper.
- Dreaming of taking in a child and nurturing them with care and attention: Indicates a tolerant, generous, and responsible approach to others. It suggests one's conduct is virtuous and blessed, leading to steady prosperity in career and family fortune.
- Dreaming of an adoption where the entire family lives together in harmony and mutual support: Indicates complete and harmonious family unity. It signifies lasting karmic affinity and steady, enduring prosperity for the family.
- Dreaming of adopting a disobedient, rebellious child who is difficult to discipline: Indicates being entangled in trivial matters, hindered or burdened by others, where one's efforts yield little return, leading to worry and frustration.
- Dreaming of abandoning the adoption midway, regretting the decision and unwilling to nurture the child: Indicates a lack of follow-through and an unsteady initial resolve. It signifies a dissipation of karmic merit and blessings, leading to unsettled fortunes.
Core Symbolic Meaning
Adopting or taking in a child symbolizes compassionate karma, drawing in blessings and happiness, continuing the family legacy, and interpersonal burdens. Adopting a well-behaved child, nurturing them with care, and achieving family harmony is auspicious—indicating the accumulation of good deeds, drawing in blessings, domestic prosperity, and lasting personal connections. Adopting a stubborn, hard-to-teach child, abandoning them midway, or regretting the decision is inauspicious—indicating burdens from trivial matters, depletion of one's blessings, and mental worry and distress. A heart full of compassion naturally attracts good karma. In action, what is valued is a clear beginning and end. Treating others generously is the path to be accompanied by blessings and good fortune.
Classical Texts
《周公解梦》 (Duke of Zhou Interprets Dreams)
梦收养抱养主慈缘，乖巧温顺福运绵；用心抚育家宅旺，阖家相伴百事安；童顽难教多烦扰，弃养反悔福难全。
Interpretation: To dream of adopting a child indicates creating a bond of mercy. A gentle and obedient child brings prolonged and far-reaching blessings. To nurture and educate a child wholeheartedly leads to a household that gradually flourishes. The whole family living together in harmony and mutual support ensures everything is stable and goes well. Adopting a disobedient, rebellious child who is hard to teach leads to constant worry from life's trifles. To abandon the adoption midway, regretting the decision, makes it hard to preserve one's own blessings and good karma.
《梦林玄解》 (Dream Forest Profound Interpretations)
收养者，积善之因、纳福之兆也；慈心待人，则缘聚福来；抚育有恒，则家昌运隆；童顽者，俗事之累也；始养终弃者，心无恒德，福自难守。
Interpretation: Adoption is a cause for accumulating good deeds and an omen of drawing in blessings. Treating people with a compassionate and generous heart gathers karmic ties and brings in good fortune. Nurturing a child with persistence and steadfastness ensures family prosperity and flourishing fortune. A naughty, disobedient child symbolizes the burden and entanglement of worldly trivialities. To begin an adoption but later abandon it indicates a lack of constancy and virtue in one's character, making it naturally difficult to retain one's blessings.
Divination Categories
- Auspicious Divination (吉占): Adopting a well-behaved child, nurturing with care, and the entire family living in harmony together. Indicates accumulating good deeds, drawing in blessings, and domestic prosperity. Very auspicious.
- Neutral Divination (平占): Hearing about an adoption, observing someone else adopt, being detached and unaffected. Indicates stable karmic ties with no major fluctuations of fortune or misfortune. Neutral.
- Inauspicious Divination (凶占): Adopting a rebellious, disobedient child who is hard to discipline, or abandoning the adoption midway with regret. Indicates being burdened by trivial matters and depletion of one's blessings. Inauspicious.
Common Questions
Q: What is the omen of dreaming about adopting an obedient and well-behaved child?A: It is an auspicious omen, indicating a kind heart is accumulating good karma. It foretells an increase in joy and blessings for the household, with personal relationships improving, leading to long-lasting good fortune and blessings in the future.
Q: What does it represent to dream of taking in a child and caring for them diligently?A: It represents taking responsibility and seeing things through to the end. It indicates deep accumulation of virtue, with steady progress in both career and family legacy, and being easily respected by influential people.
Q: What should one be aware of when dreaming of an adopted child being very rebellious and difficult to discipline?A: Recently, you may be prone to being troubled or hindered by trivial matters or others' issues. Your efforts may be substantial but yield little return. Maintain a calm state of mind and do not force every single thing to be perfect.
Q: Is dreaming of adoption and taking in a child generally auspicious or inauspicious?A: It depends on the specific scene. Auspicious signs include: Adopting a well-behaved child, nurturing with care, and the entire family living in harmony together. Indicates accumulating good deeds, drawing in blessings, and domestic prosperity. Very auspicious. Inauspicious signs include: Adopting a rebellious, disobedient child who is hard to discipline, or abandoning the adoption midway with regret. Indicates being burdened by trivial matters and depletion of one's blessings. Inauspicious. Neutral scenes are read as: Hearing about an adoption, observing someone else adopt, being detached and unaffected. Indicates stable karmic ties with no major fluctuations of fortune or misfortune. Neutral.
Q: Which adoption and taking in a child dream scenes should be read as inauspicious?A: Adopting a rebellious, disobedient child who is hard to discipline, or abandoning the adoption midway with regret. Indicates being burdened by trivial matters and depletion of one's blessings. Inauspicious. These scenes should be read through the entry's stated judgment, not from the title alone.