Miller wrote: “To dream of seeing a lantern going before you in the darkness, signifies unexpected affluence.” Compare 6 historical dream books.
Compare the historical accounts
These are the authors’ historical interpretations. Their forecasts and period judgments are preserved as source material, not as predictions or established meanings for your dream.
Gustavus Hindman Miller
Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted; Or, What’s in a Dream · Gutenberg #926; bibliography identifies the 1901 original and subsequent reprints
Lantern · Heading 1151; source lines 13341–13363 · Text transcription
Original source (English)
To dream of seeing a lantern going before you in the darkness, signifies unexpected affluence. If the lantern is suddenly lost to view, then your success will take an unfavorable turn.
To carry a lantern in your dreams, denotes that your benevolence will win you many friends. If it goes out, you fail to gain the prominence you wish. If you stumble and break it, you will seek to aid others, and in so doing lose your own station, or be disappointed in some undertaking.
To clean a lantern, signifies great possibilities are open to you.
To lose a lantern, means business depression, and disquiet in the home.
If you buy a lantern, it signifies fortunate deals.
For a young woman to dream that she lights her lover's lantern, foretells for her a worthy man, and a comfortable home. If she blows it out, by her own imprudence she will lose a chance of getting married.
Felix Fontaine
The Golden Wheel Dream-book and Fortune-teller · 1862
Lantern · Heading 411; source line 2881 · Text transcription
Original source (English)
To dream of carrying a lantern in a dark night is a good sign, provided you have no difficulty in finding your way, for it shows that you will easily accomplish some fortunate object you may have in view; if you stumble, or have difficulty in finding your way with the lantern, it denotes trouble and vexation, though success will be achieved at last.
A. H. Noe
The Witches' Dream Book; and Fortune Teller · New York, Henry J. Wehman, 1885
Lantern · Dream section, heading 298; source lines 1204–1206 · Text transcription
Original source (English)
He that dreams he sees a lantern with a light in it, extinguished, that signifies unto him sadness, sickness and poverty.
Astra Cielo
Fortunes and Dreams · New York, George Sully, 1917
Lantern · Dream section, heading 249; source lines 4459–4461 · Text transcription
Original source (English)
To carry a lantern means a safe adventure.
Anonymous
Everybody’s Book of Luck · Whitman Publishing Company edition; date not stated in transcription
Lantern · Dream section, heading 151; source lines 3902–3905 · Text transcription
Original source (English)
Success: (to see light extinguished or darkened) sadness, sickness, poverty.
Katherine Taylor Craig
The Fabric of Dreams: Dream Lore and Dream Interpretation, Ancient and Modern · New York, E. P. Dutton & Company, 1918; original US edition
Lantern · Printed p. 228–229; NLM OCR lines 10612–10621 · OCR transcription
Original source (English)
To dream of carrying one on a dark night foretells riches; to stumble denotes trouble; for the light to be darkened or extinguished, poverty (Artemidorus). Modern symbol of lanterns, leadership; Christian symbol, piety and truth; the tarot gives it as a symbol of wisdom.
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Attributed historical writing. Historical claims are not established predictions or universal psychological meanings. Updated 2026-10-12. Read our approach and sources.