Moons, Months & Cycles: Unusual Metaphoric Timing Symbols in Dreams

Have you ever seen a moon or stars or a constellation in your dreams? I have. But how about this – have you ever had a timeline of a month given to you in a dream? These are not common but when they do appear, they hold a high level of significance and often indicate a prophetic time factor for circumstances in your life.

If you haven’t seen these yet, you might want to find out in advance what they mean. Here’s a quick preview: the interpretation of these symbols requires an understanding of science, creation, Hebrew culture and then some reading between the lines.

[Update November, 2019: Also check out my newest blog on this subject here…]

Moons: Lunar Mysteries in Dreams | Science & Biblical Metaphors

Elliptical Communication

Let’s start with a big key to understanding God’s metaphoric style of speech – it’s a term known as “elliptical speech”. No pun intended, but our symbol of the moon is an excellent example of how God uses this odd communication technique to speak to us.

An elliptical style of communication is when you say one thing but you’re actually referring to something very different. It’s a way of deliberately giving something valuable to the listener in a way that they might actually miss it. Jesus often spoke this way Himself and it’s a very common metaphoric technique that God uses in our dreams.

The term elliptical is an adjective that can mean, “(of a style of speaking or writing) tending to be ambiguous, cryptic, or obscure” (dictionary.com).

This literary technique comes into play in deciphering the connection between a moon, a month and a season. In order to explain how this works, let’s start with a bit of science…

Science and Creation: Celestial Objects

Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.
Genesis 1:14-16 (NKJV)

All celestial objects in space were created with a purpose far beyond what most astronomers have figured out. At the most basic level, they all serve as a signpost to indicate the current season and to mark the changing of seasons from one to another. But beyond that, they serve far bigger purposes. It might surprise some to find out that God has spoken about other celestial objects beyond just the sun and moon.

Here’s a perfect example – specific constellations are referred to in Job and Amos, including the Pleiades, Bear and Orion. Although not mentioned in those passages, each of the primary constellations also serve the purpose of revealing part of the story of all creation, including the salvation and redemption of man but also of events that transpired in heaven, before Adam and Eve were created.

If you’ve never taken time to really study Genesis 1 and 2, I make a really strong suggestion right now to become very familiar with it. In these chapters are volumes of insight about the creation (on earth and out in the universe) that are poorly understood. If you’d like to learn more about the constellations as prophetic signs, see the end of this article for references.

Lunar Cycles and Timing

Blow the trumpet at the time of the New Moon, At the full moon, on our solemn feast day.
Psalms 81:3 (NKJV)

Let’s leave the creation aspect there for now and get into the timing factors. Specifically now, we need to deal with just the moon. If you study Hebrew culture and the Biblical calendar, you’ll notice right away that each month is based on lunar cycles.

Scientifically, the lunar cycle is on a 29.5 day rotation, from new moon to full moon and then back again. Since the Biblical calendar is based on this, it produces a calendar year of 354 days versus our western 365 day calendar. To offset this gap of eleven days every year, there are leap months added every two to three years to get the calendar back on track with the earth’s orbit around the sun.

In case you’ve never noticed, this lunar offset is the reason why the feast days of Passover, Yom Kippur, Hanukkah, etc, always end up on different days and months on the western calendar each year.

Month – Seasonal Connection Metaphor

He appointed the moon for seasons; The sun knows its going down.
Psalms 104:19 (NKJV)

Since the lunar cycle determines the beginning of each month, we can now put our discussion into a context as it relates to the topic of timing and metaphoric speech. Let’s look at this in terms of a logical connection. Lunar phases are cycles. Cycles are things that repeat, usually within a set period of time. Months are cycles of time that repeat. A lunar cycle therefore, is a period of time equal to a month.

Here’s where we add a layer of metaphoric significance. Moons are given for signs and seasons (Psalms 104:19). A lunar cycle determines the month of the year and it can also therefore determine the season (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter). Since cycles of the moon can indicate the season, it can also be said that the appearance of the moon is symbolically equated to a seasonal timing indicator.

Moon = lunar cycle = time period = month = indication of seasons

The moon therefore, can be an elliptical reference to a month and a season. So when you see a moon in a dream, it can be an indication of the life season you are in, but it can also be a prophetic timing indicator for a future event. Since months and lunar cycles are connected Biblically, it can be that if you are told something will happen in “one month” or “the next month”, that is like saying “in the next season”.

This is where you may need to go a step further to determine what month you were given prophetically for this event. It may be that the meaning of the name of that month or the meaning of the season is the clue you need to figure out when a certain thing will happen for you.

Each of the four seasons also have significance according to the Hebrew tradition. To find out more about the meaning of the season, scroll to the bottom of the article on this page. Each of the seasons are based on the Biblical feasts and events transpiring in the Old Testament, particularly in Exodus and Esther.

Sun-Moon Personal Metaphors

Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me.” So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?”
(Genesis 37:9-10 NKJV)

Beyond timing indicators, there is a much deeper level meaning with the sun and moon which requires at least a brief mention here. The clue is in the dream that Joseph had in which his family had no trouble understanding the interpretation.

The sun is a reference to a man (as a husband) and the moon to a woman (as wife). Joseph’s parents understood they were the sun and moon and this is why they took offense to his dream. On a larger scale, these two objects also are symbolic of the church (moon) as it reflects the light (sun) which is a symbol of Jesus (John 1).

The more you study the account in Genesis of the creation of the world and how God created man and woman, the more you will understand why we are here and what we are all called to be. The calling is much, much higher than most realize. The key to many casually accepted and mostly unquestioned aspects of life are found right in those two chapters.

Dream Examples

I have myself seen moons in dreams three times so far. Two of them were a reference to the current season of my life at the time and the third was a prophetic sign with a timing indicator of something that has not yet happened. The third moon will be the topic of a future article which involves a separate matter involving the courtroom of Heaven. That is too complex of a subject for this article but, I will be posting that in the near future.

Besides just moons, I’ve also had two references to the Pleiades constellation in a dream along with a power generating station on another “planet”. These were obviously metaphors for something not necessarily in space. The Pleiades is a constellation of seven stars inside another constellation, Taurus the bull.

If you do a search for “seven stars” in the Bible, it leads directly to the first three chapters of Revelation with the seven letters to the seven churches. I have to admit up front, the interpretation of that dream is still in the works and will have to be saved for a future article. For now, this wraps up our discussion on signs, seasons, months and moons in dreams.

Astrology vs God’s Truth

A brief final note to those who engage in the worship of celestial objects and the practice of astrology…the Bible says these objects far away in space actually worship God. If you are worshipping these objects, you need to know that they themselves give glory to the God who created them. This means, if you worship a thing that God created, you’re aiming too low and missing the entire point of their existence. You’re supposed to be learning something from these objects and doing what they themselves testify of.

Praise Him, sun and moon; Praise Him, all you stars of light!
Psalms 148:3 (NKJV)

Resources

David E. Taylor has taught extensively on the mysteries of creation including how the sun and moon have symbolic and literal meaning for control over time, their connection to the offices of prophet and dreamer and how the role of man and woman are each likened to these celestial objects – plus much more.
Perry Stone has many prophetic teachings on cosmic signs and discusses details about the prophetic messages given in the constellations in the night sky.
“Signs in the Heavens“, by Dr Chuck Missler, gives a brief but very detailed scientific and historic account of the Hebrew Mazzaroth (constellations) and the prophetic meaning they hold.
Hebrew4Christians is an excellent online reference for all things Jewish and includes much more detail about the Hebrew-Biblical Calendar.