
The theory is that we can learn much about ourselves by analyzing our dreams. And although there are many suggestions as to what images mean, only we can know the true significance. What can be a terrifying symbol to one person can be reassuring to another.
Recurring dreams and topics are common. I often dream of babies. People give me their babies to hold, rock, feed, care for.
I also dream of the dead. I believe the “dreams” offer important messages from loved ones who have passed away. Sometimes, souls simply show up to say “Hello.” They are often smiling or even laughing, and I’m reassured to see them this way.
Lately, some of my dreams have a different twist. The dead truly are just that. In every appearance friends and relatives who are no longer physically walking this earth are dead in the dream. They tredge zombie-like, or not at all. They do not speak or react.
As I’ve written about in other posts, my husband, Marshall, passed away last March. I also speak and write about a fatal illness, hear stories of those who have the disease and are fading from this life, and learn of residents in memory care homes who are no longer with us. Perhaps, all of these factors contribute to my morbid dreams.
Or mayber there’s a deaper meaning. A typical interpretation of death is change, rebirth, or the need to get rid of dead weight. There have been many changes in my life over the past year, so perhaps this is the gist of these nigh visions.
Here are some of my latest ones.
- I was walking up and down stairways in apartment buildings with Marshall. Dead Marshall. He walked but was silent, grey, and stumbled along. I had to guide and hold him up. – I believe I understand the significance of this dream as it occurred during a time I was considering a permanent home for his remains and where I would eventually join him.
- I sat at a dinner table with the living and the dead, many dead. Most I recognized, and those who were deceased in my dream truly are gone. I was disturbed because when I’ve dreamed of them in the past, they looked alive and spoke to me but did not on this occasion.
- In this dream, everyone was “alive.” My family was in a large home that was under massive renovation and we were selling. My parents, who passed away 20 years ago were there, and my cousin, Cathy, who also is deceased, walked in with another cousin. Cathy was beautiful, happy, and it was wonderful to see her.
- My mother suggested that I drive her turquoise car around the corner to go to school. After class, I returned to the parking lot to discover that her car was missing. I was so upset that I borrowed her car when I could have walked and now it was gone. But my mother didn’t care at all since she never used it. In fact, my mother never did drive when she was alive. — Maybe my mother is encouraging me to get rid of more things that no longer have a use.
If you like analyzing dreams, I’m interested in your thoughts. What do you think they indicate, and what are some of your recurring dreams? I’d love to hear from you.
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Did you see my last post on my other blog, Sacred Water?
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You are still mourning the loss of Marshall. It is not unusual to continue to think of those who died either when we are awake or when we sleep. I think it is our way of clinging to the past and regretting what we have lost.
Thank you, Carol.
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Mary, I appreciate your sharing accounts of your dreams. Lately I have been thinking of my father’s death (3 yrs ago) and how in light of his absence, I continue to think about myself differently. Sometimes, I feel more vulnerable or as though I have permanently buried a part of myself. At other times, I feel free–in a way that it makes no sense to feel guilty about because freedom is an inevitable aspect of solitude and being left alone.
Given these thoughts, the first dream seems to be about the weight of keeping the dear departed with us–something that we all do for as long we can–even though the dead don’t / can’t require this of us. The last dream speaks to this also–the little joys and conveniences that come to the bereaved as “gifts” are truly “free” in that the dead are indifferent to what we do with them. There is no such thing as “conscientious mourning.” We have no choice but to enjoy the memories and material legacies we are left with: we must go on living. It seems your mother has given her permission.
The third dream speaks directly to this point, in that the home is being spruced up, everyone is still alive and with you, and change is in the air! I look at this dream as striking a mature psychological balance, wherein the dead are “always with us,” but in a happy and sustaining way. Our own loving memories keep the dead alive–it’s interesting that this happens around a dinner table.
I sure hope I have not intruded by offering these interpretations. I welcome the opportunity to reflect on grief–one of the most subtle and uncharted of human experiences.
Thank you, Mary.
Wow! Susan, thank you for your insight. You give me much to think about. I appreciate you taking the time to write. Wishing you many blesings.
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