There is much speculation about what dreams mean and what specific things in a dream mean, and there is a lot of information about this subject available.
It is thought that by reading and interpreting your dreams you can discover things about yourself, such as what your brain is trying to tell you, or what you really want in life. It can also be used to tell you what you're afraid of and what you truly desire. The meaning of your dreams is really what you interpret it to be, but there are a lot of books and dream meaning guides that claim to know the meaning of certain elements of the dream.
The most common way of understanding the meaning of dreams is by buying a dream dictionary, many of which are for sale around the internet. These consist of thousands of entries for things such as objects; wasp, bat, car, or other themes, such as it being set in the past, or maybe meeting up with a lost relative, and a lot more. The idea is that by certain combinations of elements in a dream we can learn things about the individuals mind and the way they think deep down; therefore the meaning of the dream.
The implications of these themes are vast and the opinions about what means what do sometimes vary among people.
You can use nightmares to discover what you're truly afraid of, and with a bit of control and practice you can discover why you are afraid. By learning lucid dreaming you can change your nightmares and use them to learn what you're scared of and why. In terms of normal non lucid dreams, if you are interested, have a look at getting a dream dictionary or similar tool.
The moon; often meaning peace or serenity in the dream.
Dream meaning; a basic guide.
Dreams are the mind trying to sort out the days (and the rest of your lives') thoughts and experiences into some sort of order, therefore when we are Lucid we can notice things about the way the brain sorts these things out. We can notice tiny changes and details in the way the brain projects certain things. Let's look at a very basic example.
You're dreaming about a new job, you see yourself working there and hear people talking in the nearby offices, you see your boss, and next to him is your old friend that you no longer speak to. Now think to yourself, why would your brain project your friend next to your boss at your new job? maybe you miss them and deep down want to show them how well you're doing now and catch up with them. Or, because you've projected them next to your boss maybe yo've always seen them as dominant or controlling.
Bear in mind however, that dream interpretation is almost entirely subjective. If two people both dreamt about being in a jungle, it would in no way mean the same thing. It is relative the the individuals experiences in life and their thoughts and beliefs.
Generally speaking when people ask the question; 'what does my dream mean?' it's mainly down to them to try and work it out. It's not something other people can easily tell them. there are dream dictionaries around because certain things in our culture and society have a shared meaning, what we mean by this is that there are generalisations which can be made about certain things.
Most people would consider being chased by some sort of monster as a bad thing, and therefore dream dictionaries can explain this and say that if you're being chased it shows you're insecure or worried about losing someone or about change.
But most dreams are more complex than merely being chased. say you have a dream that you're climbing up a skyscraper. This could mean something like you're trying to achieve success. Let's break it down, you're climbing a building, to get higher up. Most people would associate being higher up as being happier, more accomplished and successful and generally better.
It's considered a noble pursuit to want to better oneself, to be better, stronger, higher etc, so the dream about climbing the building could mean the individual wants to achieve more, or if they're an adrenaline junkie, then it could just be a memory of the last time they climbed a building. It really depends on the specific person having the dream.
Most dream meaning you can work out yourself, just think about the symbols in the dream and what they mean to you in waking life, and what feelings or other words they bring to mind and then connect them. Work out what your brain is telling you. You can find out a lot about the way you think and view the world by analysing your dreams.