A dream that is focused on a sacrifice portrays an important side of you that you may be sacrificing because of the judgment of others. You can understand the Martyr or symbol sacrificed as representing some aspect of you. If you dream of persecution or being punished for your beliefs, you might explore the severity of your own inner critic. To dream of someone being crucified can represent unprocessed guilt or anger and how self defeating thoughts stunt fulfillment. To dream of a hanging ties the message more to feeling trapped, an inability to communicate and the inability to breathe freely. In a sense, the weight of your own body is pulling you down. This type of dream often occurs when a child held the caregiver in contempt. They may have felt crucified or unjustly punished. Some aspect of the parent can still influence their beliefs and at some level, we do identify with our parents. The conflict created by believing consciously that one is nothing like the parent, while unconsciously knowing they are the offspring can create unprocessed guilt and self-punishing behavior. One may say they have no guilt but if they explore whether they feel like an outsider or unworthy, they can begin to understand the nature of unprocessed guilt. Being crucified or hung appears as the dream setting specifically because the ritualistic sacrifice of the authentic self is unacknowledged in daily life. The critical tapes of being unworthy heard as a child ‘pull on us’ and can ‘tug us down.’ The best medicine for a difficult childhood is forgiveness. See also Shadow.