In a woman's dream a woman, such as a family member or friend is often representative of an aspect of her own personality, but often one she has not yet fully understood. In a man's dream such a figure denotes his relationship with his own feelings and with his intuitive side. It may also show how he relates to his female partner. A goddess or holy woman signifies the highest potential for working with the Greater Good that the dreamer has. Oriental women appearing in dreams usually suggest the mysterious side of the feminine. In a man's dream such a figure will often reveal his attitude to sexuality, while in a woman's dream it will reveal more about her own intuitive transcendent powers. An older woman mostly represents the dreamer's mother and her sense of inherited wisdom. An unknown woman in dreams will represent either the Anima in a man's dream, or the Shadow in a woman's. It is the qualities of surprise and intrigue that allow us to explore further the relevance of that figure. We can gain a great deal of information because the figure is unknown. The people who appear in dreams are the characters with which we write our ?play?. Often they appear simply as themselves, particularly if they are people we know or have a relationship with in the here and now. We may introduce them in order to highlight a specific quality or characteristic. We may also permit them into our dream scenario as projections of our inner life or state of being, or as ways of handling problems in our everyday life. Sometimes, rather than trying to decipher the meaning of the dream, it is enough to look at what bearing the dream character's actions have on our everyday life. Below are interpretations of some of the most common interactions with people in dreams.