A parrot in a dream is held auspicious in most folk lists: good news, love or liveliness at home, and a talking parrot in particular stands for a message on its way. That is belief, not a forecast. The Hindi search is sapne mein tota dekhna.
The parrot in Indian stories
In Indian stories the parrot is the clever, talking storyteller. In the Sanskrit Shukasaptati a parrot tells tales for seventy nights. The sage Shukadeva takes his name from shuka, parrot, and Kamadeva, god of love, is said to ride one, which ties the parrot to love as well. The goddess Meenakshi holds a parrot in her hand. Village fortune-tellers used to have a parrot pick a card. So in dreams the parrot stands for messages, love and conversation. Green, the parrot's colour, is also the colour of new growth and of Mercury (Budh) in astrology, the planet of speech, and some lists lean on that link to read a parrot dream as a time for talking things through.
Variations
| What you saw | Folk reading |
|---|---|
| A talking parrot | A message or news arriving |
| A pair of parrots | Love, sweetness in a relationship |
| A parrot in flight | Release from a restriction; travel |
| A parrot in a cage | A held-back wish, a sense of being bound |
| Setting a parrot free | Freeing someone, or yourself |
| A parrot eating fruit | Prosperity at home, good days |
| A parrot biting you | A small hurt from someone's words |
What psychology says
A parrot repeats what it hears, so in dreams it is often linked with words, rumours and repetition: something you have heard over and over, or something you want to say and cannot. Hindi calls rote learning tota ratna, parroting, so around exams the dream can come from that too. The caged parrot is a very clear symbol: of being restricted, held back, or unable to speak up.
A simple thought
If the parrot was caged, ask what you are keeping bottled up. Saying it to someone you trust usually lightens the mind.
Read next
See a peacock in a dream, an owl in a dream and mangoes in a dream, or the full list of dream meanings.