Do dream symbols have universal meanings?

Relatively few dream symbols have universal meanings. Most images that appear in dreams are unique to the dreamer, and have a specific significance to that particular person. For instance, a dream of a "dark horse" would mean one thing to a girl going through the horse stage of adolescence, while meaning something very different to a student of the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and yet something else to a political candidate. Symbols with universal meanings generally represent "big" ideas that transcend time and cultures, such as darkness and light, seas, mountains, the Old Woman / Old Man, the Shadow, etc.