Stagnation, stubbornness, opposition, susceptibility, force of inertia, unfinished evolution
In the dream bestiary, here is an animal whose symbolism is hardly positive. If the negative or positive connotation of other animals is relative to the context of the dream, here it is almost always the negative meaning that prevails. Despite its intelligence, the donkey symbolizes the forces of inertia, stubbornness, stagnation. In its appearance, it is still far from horse perfection. It is an unfinished form. Therefore, it symbolizes thoughts or things that have not come to fruition. The dreamer stubbornly clings to the past, either out of fear or lack of discernment. The donkey is the fool, and his name is an insult, especially if he is saddled. The donkey also represents the body, the stubborn forces of survival that oppose the spirit, distancing itself from it.
Christ enters Jerusalem riding a donkey. He heads towards his destiny, Passion, death, inexorably.
The Golden Ass, or the Metamorphoses by Apuleius, describes the misery of the donkey's condition and the need for sublimation to escape it, to transmute that state to achieve alchemical gold.