Dreams As Spiritual Messages
November 20, 2008 by Akemi
Have you had one of those dreams from which you wake up thinking, “That was so real. . . I think that meant something important, but what could that be?” Our nightly dreams are one way we receive spiritual messages.
In my interview with Davina, many comments came about dreams. So here is my follow up on this fascinating topic. (Photo by jpstanley)
Five types of dreams
Not all dreams are spiritual messages. Here is a quick overview of the various types of dreams:
- Some dreams are just the products of our mind. The mind wants to re-process what it experienced. The experience may be real or something you saw in a movie or in a book, and it may be recent or old experience, or combination of them.
- Some people “work” through their dreams. They have many dreams but the dreams don’t make sense to them. It’s a way their soul is helping other souls in the dream world, and my advice for this kind of dreamers is “Don’t over-analyze your dreams.”
- Some go to the wrong side of the dream world either by accident or by negative energetic interference. This is really harmful – the person ends up having some kind of sleep problems such as nightmares (the negative side of the dream world is a very ugly place), insomnia (because the mind is so afraid of going there again), or dreamless sleep (because the mind dismisses the horrible dreams immediately at waking up). It is one of the energetic issues I clear in my Akashic Record Reading.
- Then, there are dreams that are spiritual messages. They would feel special. It may be the soul memory of its past lives, or premonitions, or messages from your spirit guides.
- Some people (with practice) can program dreams before going to sleep. It’s called lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming also means being aware you are in dreams while in dreams, therefore allowing you to explore the dream world actively.
Can dream dictionaries help your dream interpretation?
So the first step in dream interpretation is to focus on that special dream that you know, beyond reasoning, means something important. You don’t have to “try to remember” this kind of dream as you wake up. You know. (However, it will help you to write down the dream once you are awake. We are all so busy to get distracted, aren’t we?)
Then hold on to that dream and “guess” what it may mean. Hopefully, you’ll have your a-ha moment.
Erin Pavlina makes very important point to rely on your own frame of reference rather than checking with dream dictionaries for your dream interpretation. I totally agree. What does that symbol mean to you? How do you feel about it? What is the overall feel of the dream?
And then again, the dream may not be “symbols”. It may be a more straightforward past life memory or premonition.
Because this is such a personal process, I guess a case study may serve better than generalized explanation. Here is something I experienced several years ago. When I woke up from this dream, I knew it was important so I wrote it down in my journal at 3 am.
Meeting my spirit guide in the dream
In the dream, there was an old man dressed like a Buddhist monk. He was terminally ill, and was being cared for by a younger someone – one of his disciples. There was another young man who heard of his condition and traveling to see him. But the old man was not sad nor scared about his own upcoming death.
“When you seek answers outside of yourself, there is no end in seeking. Silly. Everything is complete within yourself already.” The old man was talking to the person at his bed side. I knew he meant things like books and teachers when he said “outside of yourself”. He looked happy. His body was weakening, but he was in joy to go home.
Like many dreams, there may have been more details but this is about all I remembered. The feelings were very clear: the traveling man’s concern about the old man’s condition and the old man’s positive, almost joyous, feeling about his own death.
At the time, I thought the old man’s message about life and death was so interesting, and so I wrote it down.
When I got to know my spirit guides more closely later, I found that my first guide was an old man who was my spiritual teacher in one of my past life. After awhile this dream popped up in my mind again. I now think that old man in the dream was my teacher and on my spirit guide team.
Learning spiritual lessons in the dreams
Dr. Brian Weiss reports in his classic Many Lives, Many Masters that he received lessons from his Master Spirits in his dreams. It wasn’t just about receiving spiritual messages – he says he could do Q&A sessions with the spirits. Basically, he was channeling in his dreams.
Have you had unusual dreams? What do you think about dream analysis and dream dictionaries?
Further reading: My friend Anna Conlan just wrote a post about spiritual messages in dreams and “working” in the dreams.
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Hi Akemi. Great topic! I enjoyed reading about that dream of yours. There was a gentle quality about it.
I don’t dream as often as I used to. Or perhaps I just remember less of them. I have 2 books full of dreams that I recorded in my early 20s. Really crazy stuff.
I agree that it’s better to think about what the dream means to us rather than looking up the interpretation from another source.
Most of my dreams are crazy, come to think of it. I once had a lucid dream where I dreamed in another language. I had just done a vision quest as part of a native ceremony. Often a participant would receive their medicine name after doing a vision quest. I didn’t receive mine. When I asked the elder about it she told me to ask for it in a dream. So I did.
I received some strange words that night in a dream. I awoke but was in that lucid state between sleep and wakefulness. I literally felt myself reaching through the “fog” to the journal beside me to write down the words.
I later learned from the elder that no, they weren’t my medicine name, but they were parts of Cherokee words. That was the neatest dream experience I’ve had.
Davina,
That is a very interesting dream!
Language in dreams and intuitive messages are another interesting topic. For example, when I do Spirit Guides Reading, I try to write down their names, but some seem to come in language I don’t know. Like those long name in Greek. (Arrrgh!)
Excellent content and style…keep up the good work!
Aloha Akemi,
Perfect topic for me at the moment. My dreams have become very vivid, a place of comfort some nights and a place of sorting thing out on other nights. My day time life is often difficult as the physical symptoms of multiple chemical sensitivities can be. Last night my prayers asking for support and comfort were answered with an exquisite dream about my brother: In the dream I was under a beautiful plumeria tree … light golden plumeria grew above me. Along the roots that rose from the ground (plumeria often have roots that do that) tiny white star-like flowers lit up a trail leading to the trunk of the plumeria tree. As I dreamed the tiny flowers and the plumeria above began to shimmer and dance.
I was filled with joy and comfort, conscious and aware that these dream feelings were giving me what I prayed for before I fell asleep. My brother and I have lived through a range of differnt emotions together, and in this dream I said, “Ah, you are such a fantastic gardener. A beautiful boy.” There was peace.
Dream messengers are sometimes guides to the space where comfort lies when the reality of the physical body are too dense and difficult, and for those spaces I draw strength.
Glad I came to visit you here Akemi. Thanks for this space to let the words fly.
Simple Meditation,
Thank you for your kind words.
Mokihana,
Beautiful and very comforting dream. Thank you for sharing.
Best wishes to your health,
Akemi
Hi Akemi – I can only really remember dreams if I wake up while I’m having them. And if I don’t write them down straight away, I seem to forget them.
As you know – I slept badly for a long time, as I was visiting the lower plains. And I haven’t dreamt a lot really.
Sometimes I dream about friends though. I had a dream about a friend recently and I was able to describe a situation they were in years ago – I could also give an accurate description of a room they were in. It was weird.
I try not to think about dreams too much – especially bad ones.
Hi Akemi!
It’s funny that you should post this about dreams because you were in my dream last night! I dreamt that I was running a workshop for lots of people (and you came) but when I tried to give the workshop, I had nothing to say so everyone left and went to my kitchen to make sandwiches!!
Could you elaborate on the second point?
“Some people “work” through their dreams. They have many dreams but the dreams don’t make sense to them. It’s a way their soul is helping other souls in the dream world, and my advice for this kind of dreamers is “Don’t over-analyze your dreams.””
I always have interesting but horribly random dreams, and I’ve been kind of disappointed that I can’t get any meaning out of them. So what you said is kind of comforting but I don’t really understand what it means or what I should think of it. :/
Cath,
I don’t remember most of my dreams, either. I think many people are caught up with the idea of dream interpretation. Dreams are just one way we can receive spiritual messages, and there are many other ways, including communicating with spirit guides directly while we are awake and conscious.
Anna,
That’s interesting. How did I look in your dream? Did I look like the photo on this site? Or did I look vague but you just knew it was me? I’m curious because we’ve never met in person.
M
Well, our souls go to astrals in our sleep and interact with other souls. There are people we call Dream Masters who do a kind of volunteer works for others. They do something like role playing games so that the other soul can learn lessons through this role playing game rather than in real life experiences. So the dreams don’t make sense to the dreamers themselves — they are just playing roles.
I hope this explanation helps you. Thank you for reading my blog.
Would it be wrong of me to assume that I’m “helping” someone, just because my dreams are meaningless, though vivid?
…Has anyone written about this before? I got really interested suddenly.
M,
Hmm. . . honestly, I don’t know if you are a Dream Master or not until I read your Akashic Records. I say this not in my attempt to sell my service but to keep my professional integrity. Doctors cannot give assumptions just by hearing some symptoms — that would be totally irresponsible for them. Same kind of issue here.
I don’t know if others have written about this on the internet. That is why I’m writing this here and trying to help some people.
Smiles,
I understand.
(I don’t buy anything over the internets ’cause that’d be all sorts of complicated — me being underage, kinda broke, and I live in Estonia
)
But I’m going to subscribe to this blog now.
)
M,
Thank you for reading Yes to Me
Hi Akemi, you looked like in your photo, I guess
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[...] also recommend Dreams As Spiritual Messages from Yes to Me, Abandon Your Self-Control from The Happiness Project, and The Incredible [...]
hi, i have very weird dreams.my mind is awake and i know exactly what i am doing but i cant wake myself up, my head is all fuzzy. i often tell my husband what movements i am making trying to wake myself as i can hear everything going on around me.i sometime gasp for breath.
Donna,
It seems you are lucid dreaming against your intent. Try asking your spirit guide to be with you throughout the night. As I had to say to M (above), I can’t make assumptions of what is really going on without reading your Akashic Records, but praying to your spirit guide is a safe idea you can try.
[...] later in my life, I had this dream about death that had the joyous sense of going home. In that dream, death was a completion of this lifetime [...]
Hi Akemi, I really appreciate yoru website and the variety of perspectives you offer. Messages certainly do take different forms in sleeping and waking worlds. The more people realize they can choose to learn from their dream experiences, the easier it is to overcome fear or confusion. People can evolve to realize dreams offer windows into the soul and beyond. Dreams are tools that enable people to explore their hopes and get to better understand themselves. Your chosen roles in life enable you to assist many people.
Love & Light,
Liara
Liara Coverts last blog post..Jill Bolte Taylor & 5 tips to reframe your own reality
A fascinating blog. I just wonder if you can shed light on the persistent dreams I have about my ex. In my dreams I’ve always ‘found’ him again and I feel relieved to talk to him and have closure. The reality in the morning is so frustrating. Do you think we are meeting astrally or have I just got issues?
Also, on rare occasions I may dream about being on a date with a particular someone I find attractive. I feel elated, but then the disappointing reality hits me when I wake up. Is the dream wishful thinking or are we connecting astrally? I find it hard to know the difference and don’t want to delude myself!
Hi,
Well, I’m not an authority in dream interpretation . . . my speciality is reading soul records. To me, your dreams seem to suggest the part of you that you are suppressing. Trust the feeling you have about the dream(s) — that is the best way to understand them.
The past 3 or so years I have been on a journey of spiritual understanding. Along with that, as you know, are the tests of that understanding, and I withstood them.
About a month or so ago I had just laid down to sleep when there was a golden circular light from the upper right portion of the ceiling. The light was stationary but alive with moving colors of gold and champange. The part of me that lies near the diaphram or my solar plexus began to ascend to this light. I have no words to describe the beauty of it or it’s feeling. That part of me rose without looking down at myself as an out of body experience or looking back in any manner at my life or children. That light was a direct beam into my solar plexus. It felt like a invisable pull from that light to me. The pull feels like stretching back in your office chair with your arms back behind your head, there is a pull just below the ribs when you do this, and that’s how the ascention felt. When I reached the light smoky gray clouds billowed and moved in around it until it was gone. I immediately opened my eyes wanting the light, as in “hey…I want the light, how come I can’t have the light.” The light was not white and I could look at it and it was lovely and there was no hesitation in me to go to it as if I knew the light already. There was no human form or tunnel, just the circular living light. I do not normally remember my dreams unless they are significant.- My wonder is since I’m still here was that a near death or spiritual nourishment? Did I stop breathing during lucid dreaming and was sent back or is it other than that? There are no preceding issues I went to sleep with nor is there after. I can feel this light now from the inside of my solar plexus, near the sternum where the solar plexus blends into and becomes nerves. It is where/how the spiritual word becomes flesh and not the pineal gland on a scientific basis. The light remains a constant knowing inside and consciously I yearn for the ascention to it again