Jacob dreams of a ladder where angels ascend and descend.(the angels are in purple, the color of Yetzirah, the olom or world where they exist). The number of rungs of the ladder are said to vary from four for the four worlds of simultaneous Kabbalistic existence and sometimes many more each signifying the years of exile by the four major diasporas. The angels are a promise of reaching higher consciousness. It says that they ascend before descending suggesting that our inner essence first must emerge in the process of connecting to a wider truth. If we could have such dreams that would guide us when we are confronted with our fears as was Jacob escaping at the time the wrath of his brother.